Something Strange something New
by Bree51
Summary: Just the Parent story to 'A Little Night Music'. This is a chaptered story where I have Scott and Xavier back from the dead. It's rated M for some words. This RoLo Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own Marvel or any of Marvels' characters. I only own my characters who are not characters of Marvel.

Something Strange, Something True

James 'Logan' Howlett, better known to the world as, "The Wolverine" awoke with a start. He was strapped down on a cold mental table in what he knew by sight and smell to be the place the X-men called the med lab. He smelled the scent of the one known as the beast; Henry 'Hank' McCoy who Logan's nose knew was just in the next room. He lay back down on the table.

The last thing he recalled was the strange looking sight in the night sky when a huge bright globe of light came down towards him as his teammates were rushing to his aid. He didn't recall much else except the light had felt like a heavy weight to him. Knocking the wind out of him and even preventing his claws from coming out, then darkness. True to his nose Dr. Henry McCoy emerged from his office and looked pleased to see Logan awake.

"All right Hank, just why the hell am I tied down with these adamantium ties?" Hank adjusted his glasses as he approached his grouchy friend.

"Well my dear boy, your behavior last night was rather feral. It took about six hours to subdue you and place you down here after shooting you with forty-two shots of tranquilizers." Logan looked stunned.

"What the hell are you talking about? Last night I was attacked by some huge orb light thing and I couldn't move." Hank looked at Logan as he slowly began to untie him and Logan sat up.

"What the hell is going on here?" Logan asked looking like he had no idea just what Hank was talking about.

Hank adjusted his glasses and motioned for Logan to follow him. Logan jumped off the table and after adjusting his neck, followed Hank to the war room. Hank ran some surveillance tape from last night on the large drop down screen. Before Logan's stunned eyes he saw a figure that from a distance looked just like him; but he was fighting his follow teammates? But the real kicker to Logan eyes was that included in that group were the late Jean Grey and Scott Summers. When Logan saw this he nearly choked. Hank noted the look on Logan's face.

"Ahh." Hank nodded as he pulled out a black leather pad and began taking notes. Logan just gawked at him.

"With my large hands, notebooks are easier then the new I-pads." Logan shook his head.

"Hank you don't see Jean and Scott in that video?" Hank looked Logan dead in the eyes.

"And why wouldn't I see them Logan? They do live here. Happily married as ever." Logan nearly fell off the wall he was leaning on.

"Live here? Happily married. Where's here Hank?" Hank grinned.

"Right question Logan. I think now the professor will see you and explain everything to you." Logan's mouth dropped.

"The professor?"

He followed Hank out the doors sniffing the air to see if he could pick up any smells that were not from anyone who wouldn't be associated with the institute. The only smells he got were those that belonged, including the smells of his fallen teammates who now were alive.

Logan couldn't wrap his head around it and was on high alert in case this was either Magneto or Striker or some other enemy just waiting in the wings.

As they approached the professor's office exiting the ride up from the med lab and bypassing the kitchen. Logan picked up the scent of something else. A sweet smell mixed with sandalwood, fresh fallen rain, jasmine and even licorice. The scents puzzled Logan as Hank held the door open to Xavier's office. Logan looked inside spotting the face, features and scent of the man he knew he had witnessed dying at the hands of Jean Grey. A voice in his head told him to have faith. It was the voice of the man he now beheld, Charles Frances Xavier.

In the kitchen Ororo Munroe-Howlett sat at the table facing the two high chairs in front of her feeding her two little angels as they just made a mess of the baby food they no longer wanted to eat. At six months the twins were growing bigger and were happy well-adjusted babies despite, there at times, over zealous behavior. Something they'd inherited from their father. Ororo frowned since the incident last night Logan was no doubt trapped on the world his alternate had come from. She was worried but looked at her babies and put on a happy face.

Jean had told her that the twins would pick up on her worry if she showed any so she should try to be positive for their sakes. Ororo grinned at Chance as he happily threw cheerios at the floor giggling as Kendall sat across from her big brother and clapped. A trick Logan had shown their daughter just two days earlier. Jean walked in.

"Oh Ro why didn't you call me? You know aunty Jean would do anything for her little moppets." Jean was already cooing over a smiling Chance and Kendall as they both baby talked to her and Ororo just snorted. The twins adored their extended family and their family adored them.

"Jean I can still get them breakfast you know. Logan has only been gone for less then ten hours and Hank has assured me we will get him back sooner rather then later." Ororo had to take in a deep breath. She was fighting back her panic and her tears. Jean sent a mental message to her.

'I know Lamb chop, you're scared but don't be. The professor has the other Logan in his office and is already in his head. We'll have your family whole again before you know it.' Ororo hugged Jean who hugged her back as they both wiped away unshed tears with the twins staring at them both. Ororo whispered.

"I think my little pitchers have big ears even when you don't speak out loud." Jean looked at each baby hard and they both started laughing. She turned back to Ororo.

"You know Ro you maybe right. I think these two may have that twin bond thing that Hank always talks about." Ororo grinned.

"I would not be surprised." She spoke as she began cleaning up the babies and their mess. Jean helped and then they took the two tykes out of the high chairs carrying their bundles towards the living room where their large playpen was. Putting, the just starting to crawl twosome inside of it. Ororo and Jean sat watching the twins enjoy their play. The time flew by as Jean smiled glancing back at Ro and saying.

"Look at them happy, healthy and beautiful." Jean cooed at them as Ororo laughed then got quiet.

The alternate Logan was walking by in the hallway with Hank and Scott as Ororo sensed him just like she did her own husband. On the other side of the wall that separated them Logan stopped and inhaled.

"What's with that smell?' He asked out loud causing both Hank and Scott to stare at him. Scott just opened the formal double doors. Inside the babies laughter could now be heard and the two women inside just turned towards the doors and stared. Logan just stood staring mouth agape at a very beautiful Ororo Munroe. She looked taller and shapelier then the Ororo he knew. She also appeared younger as well with longer white shining hair that hung down past her butt. She also had he noticed a very large diamond ring on the third finger from her left hand. Then his nose directed him to the twins. Logan stood dead in his tracks.

There before his eyes playing happily and gurgling baby talk to one another were two beautiful babies, both were a sweet dark coco color, a boy and a girl. The boy was a little larger then the girl and had a head full of dark curly hair that was growing down towards his back as he was crawling with his back to Logan towards some toys near the far end of the playpen. The girl had white colored hair like Ororo's some of it curling as it reached her shoulders and was held in clips that formed two large ponytails on her head. Then she turned her head and spied him. Her eyes were an Azorean blue just like Ororo's and she was grinning at him sporting one tiny baby tooth on her upper gum.

Logan grinned at the smiling babe and looked at her mom who looked and smelled nervous. Then the boy turned towards him and Logan gaped again. The face looking back at him was his own. Smaller and more rounded but with Logan's gray eyes and dark brows, a little smaller and lighter then his own brows and a smaller version of his wolfish nose. The baby grinned and there was the clef in his chin as well. Logan nearly fainted as Ororo looked peevish.

He looked from the twins to Ororo and then back to the babies as Ororo breathed deeply looking to sit down with Logan sitting also. Scott caught Jean's dour looking face glaring at him her brows crimping together and her mental shout in his head of…

'What were you thinking!' Scott squinted at the slight headache before he spoke.

"Well Logan since you now know why we need our Logan back ASAP, why don't you met his wife our Ororo Munroe-Howlett." Scott tried to recover from the glare and the mental shout his wife had given him. Logan stared at Ororo.

"So how long have you been married to your Logan?" Ororo managed a small smile.

"We have been married a little over a year. The twins happened shortly after our honeymoon in Greece." Logan perked up.

"You guys honeymooned in Greece?" Ororo had to stifle a laugh at the look on this Logan's face.

"Yes Logan felt the sea calling him there and he wanted to take me with him. He made a vow that he would never wander again unless his family went with him." Logan looked long at the twins.

"I can just imagine what kind of hell he's giving Storm and Hank back home."

"Hank do you think that will hold him?" Henry 'Hank' McCoy was breathing very hard and leaning over on his hunches as Ororo 'Storm' Munroe was seated against the lab wall making a small breeze to cold herself and the rest of her teammates down. After regaining his breath Hank spoke.

"I hope so. I've never had to administer so many tranquillizers before in my life. But this wolverine is not like ours. I swear the man went completely feral on us." Kitty was seated on the far wall around the adamantium cage that the alternate world Logan was now in. She was leaning on a now resting Colossus.

"I think he went really crazy when he saw you Storm." Ororo nodded still getting her breath back.

"I know. For some reason he went crazy when he saw me with Gambit." Hank grinned.

"No my dear he went feral. He sees you as his mate and your innocent kiss on Gambit's cheek and his hugging you back seemed to set him off." Ororo frowned at Hank.

"Why would the Wolverine care? Ours doesn't even know my real name." Hank sat up.

"But this isn't our Logan. I had the computer go over the DNA samples I got from him when we finally sedated him, he doesn't match our Logan's DNA at all. The Logan that the Globe covered was our Logan. The globe lifted off of another Logan." Peter spoke.

"You mean when it lifted off what we though was our Wolverine, there this Wolverine was instead?" Kitty patted him on his shoulder.

"Yes." Hank nodded as he pulled out his palm computer that activated the large flat screen TV that was high up on the wall.

"Look at the cells and you can see this wolverine is more feral then our Logan. His testosterone levels are much higher then our Logan's' and he's at least one hundred years younger." The team members all looked at one another. Finally Ro spoke.

"One hundred years younger? Just how old is Wolverine?' Hank shrugged.

"By my estimates he could be over two hundred to two hundred and fifty years old." Kitty and Peter stared at each other as Ororo's mouth flew open.

"What!" She yelled out in shock as Hank laughed lightening the moment.

"Remember the Wolverine has a healing factor and that is no doubt what retards his aging far greater then any other mutant or human." Kitty signed.

"Man if he could package that ability, he'd be a billionaire."

"Da." Was Peter's reply as Bobby, better known as Iceman came rushing into the room.

"Turn on the news there's a problem at city hall in New York."

Logan was in shock; he sat looking dumbfounded as he smoked his cigar out on the large porch of this X-men mansion. Aside from some cosmetic changes this mansion was just like his back home. Jean, Scott and the professor were alive, not only that but Scott and Jean had married and so had this Wolverine to Storm of all people. And to top it off they had two of the cutest babies he'd ever seen.

He inhaled long and hard on his cigar still reeling from the way this Storm looked and how happy those babies were. They even played with him after sniffing his scent. Hank had said he smelled like their father so therefore to them he kind of was. That had freaked Logan out so badly that he had to retreat to smoke so his nerves could calm down.

Now after an hour of thinking and digesting all that he'd seen tonight Logan felt calmer and more relaxed. He'd even noticed he became aroused when near this Storm. Small wonder the babies had come quick to the young newlyweds. He was taken for a loop when he found out that this Logan had never hit on Jean but had zeroed in on Storm from day one. Logan had a bigger shock when the professor gave him all the information on his past.

This Logan never lost his past. Now he knew why he had been so gaga over Jean. She was the living embodiment of Rose, a childhood crush whom Logan nee James Howlett blamed himself for her youthful death over a century ago. Jean just favored her and Rose had been in love with a another young man as Logan discovered he'd only had a schoolboy crush on her; in Rose's eyes anyway.

Rose was older and very much in love with her young man when Sabretooth had attacked her and her lover to get back at Logan. Seems Logan had murdered his and Creed's father. The man Logan's high born mother had an affair with. Creed's old man had killed the man he thought was his father and Logan in turn had killed him.

Thus the feud was born between the two. Victor who had the same healing factor as Logan, had vowed revenge on him for killing their father. He had stalked Logan for several years after Logan was taken by Rose from the home after the murder. Vic had spent over two years tracking them down. When he discovered that a teenaged Logan loved the older Rose. He found a way to exact his revenge. He murdered her and her lover making it look like Logan had done it. He even left clues so that only Logan would know who had killed them.

Logan knew Vic.'s calling card. He was torn apart by the way in which Creed had murdered and killed Rose and her young man. The crime scene was beyond gruesome. Logan was changed forever. That had caused him to feel guilty even to this day. Jean had embodied her memory for Logan. The two women could have been twins.

All those years of not knowing who he was or why he couldn't remember. All gone in one four hour session with Chuck. Logan inhaled. The Striker part of his past was done. In this life he never got the chance to fire the bullet into Logan's brain and wipe his memories out. This Wolverine got to kill him first. The good news to Logan was having his past back and knowing his real name. The bad he was on another world where he didn't belong.

The one thing he did like was that 'Wheels' was back. He wished that if he returned to his world that his professor would be there too. It felt comforting to have Chuck back. He missed that scent of old English and leather that always surrounded the old man. Logan smoked more of his cigar. Truth be told Charles Xavier was more X-men then the whole team put together. He was the living embodiment of his belief in a united world.

Logan felt even his Storm would be elated to have him back. He nearly laughed out loud to himself. 'His Storm', their relationship if you could call it that, was the two of them barely speaking two words to one another maybe once or twice a week. They seemed to function avoiding each other as much as possible in the school. Lately Storm had taken to leaving him notes on his door or bike. She knew how to keep her distance from him. Logan shrugged just thinking about it. Hank came out of the kitchen doorway.

"Logan I have a room ready for you. I'm sorry if you have to be away from your world for awhile but I am working on tracking the anomaly that bought you here." Logan held up his hand.

"Furball Ya ain't gotta apologize to me for nothing. I could use a bed right about now and I'm sorry that your Logan ain't here. His wife and babies are no doubt missing him as much as he misses them." Hank smiled faintly masking his worry for their Logan.

"True it breaks my heart to see Ororo and the twins. I know she wants her husband back home. I sense the twins will feel his absence the longer he is away."

Logan looked back at the large white moon as he followed Hank back into the mansion. He spoke to no one as he uttered.

"No doubt he ain't gonna rest too well until he's back with them either."

"Hank you have to do something. That Wolverine is out of control." Hank was rubbing the bridge of his nose as his glasses fell askew on his face. Ororo was on her last thread of sanity. This Logan was feral mainly when she was near. It was impossible for her to go near the lab or any room in the sub-basement. If this Logan smelled her then the howls would begin. Hank had even rerouted the vent system to lessen this Logan's sense of smell while Ororo was confined to the basement. But he still smelled her no matter what.

Since the night they had found him, he had to be kept in the large cage in the secondary med lab. Mainly to keep him from Ororo. She was going nuts. She had bigger problems to worry about and one was Hank's confining her to the Med-lab that was right next to this Logan's. Ever since that night of the anomaly things had changed at the mansion. Ororo was now in the med-lab indefinitely. Hank had said she needed to remain there until he finished all of his tests. Truth be told Ororo didn't feel too good about facing the students or the rest of the world right now.

Hank rubbed the tiredness from his face as Ororo looked sorry. She knew he was tired. He knew she was frightened. They both knew the world was going mad around them and now Hank had to carry most of Ororo's and Logan's burdens. He had even called Moira and she informed him she would come. He needed help.

"I'm sorry my dear Ororo but at the moment I have no other place to put this Logan. Peter and Bobby are still working on the seclusion cell that has yet to be completed." Hank looked weary as Ororo patted his arm and rubbed his shoulder.

"I know Henry. I'm sorry for being so crazed lately." Hank grinned sheepishly.

"I can understand your fear and craziness Ororo. Believe me, anyone having to cope with what happened to you and this house would be tied down to a metal table by now." Ro snorted.

"Tied down, more like hiding out Henry. Let's face it I can't let the children see me like this." Ororo threw up her hands to emphasis her point.

"I look like I did when I was eighteen. Some authority figure I am. I look like and feel like a freak." Hank rubbed his head.

"Only a woman who has always looked like a Goddess would think she was a freak due to an accident in a battle with a madwoman." Ororo folded her arms under her breasts.

"Oh yeah. How would you go about explaining how I look now to the students? Have you figured that out yet? Or even my drivers license? No plastic surgeon on Earth is this good. I lost sixteen years off my body. I have the face and figure I did when I was eighteen. I'm just grateful that I still retain my memories and education from my real age and that didn't revert like my body did."

Hank stood up from his desk. He recognized when Ororo was fearful. He walked around his large desk and enveloped her in his large arms. He crushed the now more voluptuous Ororo to him. She melted into his arms. She was shaking. Hank knew Ororo was sacred. She was responsible for this school, the students and Charles'dream. Now she didn't have their Logan and she didn't even look like the woman many came to know from the battle at Alcatraz Island.

Life always had to be so damn hard for an X-man. Ororo felt the flood of tears that threatened to leave her eyes. She hated being so weak and emotional. The sound of thunder from above made her rain in her emotions and hold back the tears. Willing herself to calm down. She took some deep breaths making her emotions and state of mind come to a calm. Hank seemed to be doing the same as well. They both parted with faint and weak smiles.

"I'm sorry Henry. I guess I've forgotten that you now have all my burdens on your shoulders as well. Not to mention our Logan's. Our Logan's.." Ororo huffed as Hank frowned.

"I'm talking about him as if he ever felt apart of this team. He showed up for the fights but everything else could go straight to hell as far as he was concerned."

Ororo nearly choked as she rubbed her face and shook her head making her now longer hair flow around her mid section. Hank grinned. He thought how much she looked like she did when she first came to Xavier's.

"My dear one allow me to get you a sedative. You need to rest. Moira is coming soon and she says she's bringing a surprise. So I will have some help soon that is until Moira can secure her business in Scotland before she comes. So please go lay down and allow me to finish my tests." He placed a soft kiss on Ororo's forehead as she leaned into him and smiled.

"Okay Hank. I never win in any arguments with you. Go. Do your lab work. I'll go lay down and try to sleep. It's no doubt for the best that I calm my nerves. I don't want bad weather to be credited with the X-men and cause any more anti-mutant hatred towards us then we already have. It's tiring being hated so much. First it's because I'm Black, then it's because I'm a woman and last it's due to me being a mutant."

Hank laughed at Ororo's little sarcastic speech. He knew when she did that she already felt better. He held the door open for her as she squeezed his hand before leaving. He wanted to see if he could question this Logan. But he would seed the air with pure oxygen to rid the lab of any of Ro's scent so the Wolverine could retreat back inside and Logan could come forward. Hank had a full week ahead of him.

Logan was settling in at the mansion having daily sessions with both the professor and Hank. He saw the twins at least once a day. His presence seemed to calm the restless babies and although this Ororo showed no aversion to his seeing the children. She did keep her distance from him. So far Logan had been on the alternate world for at least a week.

He was outside now playing with little Chance and Kendall both giggling hard at the goofy faces and playful growls he made as he pretended to chase the crawling rug-rats across the backyard's lawn. Their mother sat near the mansion with Jean both laughing at the antics of the twins with their alternate world father.

Hank came out to watch as Scott brought the women tall cool glasses of fresh lemon-aid.

"I'd say that this Logan is a lot more mature then ours." Scott spoke to Hank away from his wife and Ororo's ears. Hank grinned.

"More so then you think. Our Logan is at least one hundred years younger. This one even has an older Ro as well and get this the two don't seem to like each other." Scott looked shocked.

"You gotta be kidding me!" He caught himself as he smiled peevishly at his now frowning wife. Jean hadn't heard the conversation but she gave Scott a pointed look. He smiled and spoke softer to Hank.

"I can't even wrap my mind around that. Logan not wanting Ororo? I remember the first day he was brought here with Marie. He couldn't focus on anything the professor was saying to him. I even felt it when he purred at her and she nearly ran out of the office." Hank held back a snicker.

"Yes that day I believe will forever be impressed upon all our minds. It was plain to see that our Logan felt a pull towards Ororo that was on some levels primal and on others spiritual as well. I believe Charles said it best. Logan and the Wolverine recognized their mate when the two saw each other." Scott smiled.

"Thank God their relationship went smoothly. Both were just drawn to each other. I couldn't remember ever seeing Ro so happy and complete until Logan came. She seemed to be a calming influence for him as well. He just became more mellow with her there to soothe him." Hank nodded his head in agreement drinking his own rather large glass of lemon-aid. He finished the glass off before speaking.

"Well I must get back down to my lab. I think I have a handle on where the anomaly will show up next. I'm just lucky I was able to get some feed back on it from my colleagues at NASA. They too saw the strange orb and placed trackers on it. They were cataloging it's progress from where it started off the coast of Africa to where it is now.

In fact Leon Hardy an old school chum, has pinpointed it off the coast of Mali. I believe this globe started in some African nation that is relatively close to where our Ororo's mother was born. In fact there is a theory in Leon's analysis that this is something that occurs every three thousand years. In fact the people of this small country claim the ancestors raise up their long dormant powers in order to right something gone wrong in the universe. I believe our Logan and this one may have been exchanged for a reason." Scott looked dumbstruck.

"What reason Hank? I can't imagine why there would be a need to pull either of them from their own worlds into each others?" Hank grinned watching Logan as he lifted up one giggling babe and then the other placing sweet kisses on top of their heads.

"I can think of two reasons." He stared at the threesome as Scott looked also.

"Hank you can't mean that this happened to awaken this Logan to see what he could have with Ororo on his world? That's nuts. Even on another earth, another time there's no way this Ororo and that one are the same. They could be as different as night and day." Hank shook his large furry head. He adjusted his glasses as he did so.

"In speaking with this Logan the one thing that stood out was his pursuit of Jean. You and I both know Scott, that Jean here pursued you since you two were teens and Ororo arrived a few years later as a teen herself. She never installed herself into your lives and kept out of your way. I feel that the other world's Ororo did the same. She kept her distance while this Logan chased after that world's Jean. She still keeps her distance because she feels no connection to their Logan and has simply accepted her role in his life as unimportant to him and her. He's a teammate and nothing more. She'll live her life and he his. Logan himself said that she avoids him as if he were a disease." Hank went on.

"Charles and I were stunned at that, but it makes sense. Ororo is no fool she would never get involved with any man who didn't feel anything for her. Instead she will no doubt move on to some one else. Logan didn't know who she was seeing. He did note that several men at their mansion seemed to be gaga over her. He wouldn't elaborate but I figured that was because he was trying to figure out what he was missing when they were around her."

Scott shook his head brushing back his hair. He looked like he was still trying to absorb all the information Hank had told him. He gulped down some more of his own lemon-aid before speaking.

"So now what? What do we do about getting this one back to his world and ours back here where he belongs." Hank grinned.

"I have Leon calling me tonight. He feels the anomaly may be on it's way back here shortly and if his theory pans out we simply allow this Logan to get hit by the globe again and ours hopefully will be brought back to us."  
"That's some theory Henry. I hope Leon is a man on a mission." Hank grinned.

"He is. Leon holds four masters and two doctorates. I would say that classifies him as a man on a mission. He always covers all corners in his research and this is his baby. His family has ties to that area going back some nine thousand years. I think I trust his theory more then any other on this." Scott stared out at Logan and the children as he spoke.

"Well I hope so for our Ro's stake. The twins need their real dad and Ororo needs her real husband back."

Hank nodded as Scott finished off his lemon-aide watching the alternate world Logan and the twins play.

Ororo was seated in the room that Hank had set up for her. She would be able to return to her own room in the morning. She stared dull eyed at the fake painted window on the wall that Peter had done so that who ever had to stay in the underground lab would feel like they had a view of the outdoors. Ororo just wished she could see the outdoors.

Since the night of the encounter with this other Logan, Ororo's life had been forever changed. She sat back on her bed and thought about the battle the X-men had with the villain who called herself the 'Nanny.' The woman had been hell bent on getting to the mayor of New York. She had already used her strange gun on his security team and staff, turning them all into nine month old babies.

The team had been shocked to find so many toddlers roaming around the now battle weary city hall. Doors had been busted open and walls were littered with spent bullets as over ten to twenty toddlers sat or crawled around the hall. Some of the babies were even wailing as they sat fearful from the woman's strange gun that shot a ray which caused the victims to be turned into babies.

Ororo shivered. If not for the accident with Rouge and the Nanny she could have been turned into a child again. Hank had managed to get the gun when the crazed woman had first dropped it in her shuffle with Rouge. He'd figured out how to reverse the gun. He shot all those afflicted and reversed the effects on the security team and staffers who were beyond grateful.

But Rouge underestimated the madness this woman suffered from. She'd grabbed Rouge around her neck even as her own life was being drawn from her and tried to choke Rouge who slammed her into a wall as she flew causing the woman to fall on Hank and the gun to inadvertently hit Ororo. That shot had caused her to lose the last sixteen years in an instant.

Hank had tried to regain the weapon but the mad woman was hit herself with a more lingering shot. Her foot had kicked the gun which shattered against the wall as she was turned into a child whose encounter with Rouge had wiped her mind of who she was or what she had done. Now the Nanny was a six year old child who had no clue as to her mad life or what had made her invent such a thing in the first place.

She was taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury for further study as to how this quiet and shy woman had created a gun with the ability to reverse the aging process. Before her descent into madness she had been an aging scientist who worked for the cosmetics industry before she was fired for being too old and pass her prime. She had blamed the mayor who was hailed as the fresh young face of the city having just won an election from an older opponent who had run for the last three elections.

She had misplaced her own hatred onto the mayor because he was the most visible face of youth to a woman who had been well past it. Her drivers license showed she was well over seventy but had kept herself in amazing shape. Thus the shock and anger at being dismissed by her company had pushed her over the edge. She had invented the gun and would use it against those she felt were the cause of her own misery.

Her company Nick learned had fired Dr. Martha Ratchet with a pink slip given to her on the fortieth anniversary of her time on the job. Her co-workers had surprised her with a small party, that her superiors had attended as well. They had all saluted her work in the morning before firing her that night. Giving her her pension as a consolation prize for all her years at the company. It had the effect of driving the dear doctor mad.

Hank had been shocked to learn that a scientist who had given over forty years of her life to her profession had been so easily dismissed by her company as if she were a disposable napkin. Fury wasn't shocked. He had seen too many people let go in a business that valued youth and power more then it did age and wisdom.

That night had changed Ororo's life forever. She looked at the mirrored wall beside her door. There she saw her reflection. She looked close to the young girl she had been all those years ago when she had first arrived at Xavier's. Ororo rubbed her eyes. She looked at her hands. They no longer looked as they once did but looked fuller, plumper and smoother then before. She sighed.

There was no going back. She couldn't be the age she was before. She had been approaching her thirty-forth birthday. Hard to believe that it had been so many years since Jean, Scott, Hank, Remy and Charles were together. She and Logan barely spoke or saw one another since the loss a little over two years ago.

They were more like two strangers stuck in a large building surrounded by students and others who needed them but they acted like they didn't need each other. Logan was a loner and Ororo found out from her loss of family that she was too.

Ororo mostly kept to Charles' office or her greenhouse if she had free time. She didn't feel any need to speak to Logan. He had made it plain he felt no connection to her and wanted none. He grieved for Jean almost daily. Seated at her head stone almost every night. That alone kept Ororo away from him. He needed to mourn and Ororo had mourned enough.

A Loud howl hit her ears as Ororo jumped up and rechecked the newly installed double locks on her door. Hank though it best to keep her and this Logan at a distance and Ororo agreed. He was creepy to her. He watched her with eyes so black that they frightened her. His look was hungry as he stared her down. It unnerved her to be near him, yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from him. It was like he was connected to her. Something Ororo would never admit. That in itself had bothered her.

She felt the need to confine herself in this locked room until the morning where she would continue her confinement in her loft room. Maybe when Moira arrived she could assist Hank farther and by then a plan to explain what had happened to her could formulate.

Ororo didn't want to face the students yet. Only Hank and Kitty had seen her so far since that night. Peter, Bobby, Rouge and the out of commission Remy had been too busy with cleanup after the Nanny episode. That had allowed Hank to whisk her away from prying eyes as he beheld the now changed Ororo. She still shivered when she though about all that had happened in one very odd night.

Their Logan replaced by this wilder more feral one and she now changed into the teen she had been so many years ago. It made her head hurt as she pulled her legs closer to her body and hugged them.

Henry luckily had a friend in Africa who had some insight on the globe and had a theory about it. Hank would tell Ororo and the others in the morning. She heard another loud howl. The new Logan was still in his Wolverine stage and thus Hank was trying to get him back from that state with various scents and pure oxygen.

Ororo shook as she pressed her head down onto her knees, she prayed to the Goddess that it would work.

Logan sat with the professor in the gardens out in the back of the mansion. He noted Ororo's green house looked bigger. Charles had laughed. Telling him he had enlarged it a year ago so Ororo could grow new plants and vegetables mostly because she had come back from her honeymoon with a love of foreign fruits and veggies. Logan had to smirk.

When their session had ended, Logan had felt great. He took a walk through the large wooded area near the mansion. He was headed towards the lake and noted the old boathouse they had at his mansion was gone; in it's place sat a large and amazing house. It reminded him of the cabin he had in Canada. He noticed this world's Peter walking by accompanied by Kitty. Both smiling and looking giddy. Word had leaked out that the two were newly engaged. Logan grunted a Hello then spoke.

"Who lives in this place?" Peter looked stunned and Kitty chuckled.

"Your alternate and his family. This is the Howlett home. Only Ro doesn't want to stay here while Logan is gone."

Logan felt his face drop. He ran his hand through his growing hair. He needed a haircut but could wait until he got back to his world. He looked hard at the home. It was very much what he would have done to build a house for a family, if he had one. He glanced back at the couple. Noting how Kitty held on to Peter's hand and how he kept her close to his large frame.

"So Ro don't wanna live here while her Logan is gone?" Peter shook his head murmuring a "Da." Kitty looked peevish.

"It's really understandable. She and our Logan are like soul-mates. They don't even have to speak to know what the other wants. It's so beautiful to see them together. I just hope we can get him back." Logan gave a weak smile as they walked off.

All three felt awkward as they realized this Logan felt more like a fish out of water then ever. He headed further out into the woods to think. He was hoping Hank could find a way to get him and the other Logan switched back. He had a feeling everyone at the mansion felt the same way.

Night came quickly. Logan had of course had his time with the twins. Helping them feel like their father was never gone, but he saw the pain that crossed this Ororo's eyes when she watched her babies giggle and play with him. It was killing him a little each day. He now sat alone after a long talk with Chuck. He had asked him to relay the courtship of this world's Ro and Lo and surprisingly, Charles had told him.

He was shocked at how close the two were but when he looked at the twins he understood. They smelled like a mixture of their parents and that new baby smell. He loved them. That had shook him up. He could see how parents fell in love with their kids. He loved two children who really weren't his at all. He smoked his cigar harder.

Hank had stated that this friend of his had said the globe was headed back this way. It was now just the waiting game. Logan sat back. He needed to get home. If he stayed here he would upset everything even worse and this Ororo despite how much he had to fight his attraction to her, felt none for him. He wasn't her husband and she knew that. Her Logan knew her and he didn't. Hell he didn't know his Ro either.

He was letting it all sink in when Hank came running out followed by the rest of the team.

"There you are, hurry the anomaly that brought you here is returning, the professor and Jean sensed the power and it's headed in this direction."

Logan snubbed out his cigar and ran to join, Jean, Scott, Peter, Rouge, Remy, Iceman and Kitty as the huge white globe that Logan remembered seeing over a week ago came out of nowhere. It was making a beeline for him. He jumped with claws out straight for it.

He awoke with the sun on his face and spotted the smiling faces of Hank and Bobby. He spotted Rouge looking tearful, Remy all bandaged up and Peter looking a bit sad. Logan sat up.

"What the hell happened this time?" He looked around. The team was quiet.

"And where the hell is Scott, Jean and the professor?" Rouge looked at Hank.

"I though you said this was our Logan." Hank checked his palm computer.

"According to my readings this is." Logan sighed.

"So I'm back where I started from uhh." Marie hugged him happy to have her inhibitor on. She was shedding tears as she spoke.

"Oh Logan you're back." Remy looked pleased.

"Good to see the real you homie. Gambit can't afford to have anymore claw marks on him." Logan gave him a 'What the Fuck!' look. Peter smiled quietly and turned to Hank.

"I will go and inform Katya of the news she will not leave Ororo's side." Hank nodded as Logan perked up.

"What happened to Storm?" Marie looked worried.

"We had to fight some crazy woman called herself the Nanny and she had some kind of weapon that only partially hit Storm…" Marie looked upset. Hank finished up.

"Our Storm is alright but she has gone through some changes because of the weapon." Logan jumped off the table.

"What changes? She cripple or something now?" Hank tried to reassure him.

"No, no nothing like that. It seems the weapon this wanna be villainess created just turned grown-ups into children…." Logan interrupted.

"You mean Storm's a baby now!" Hank held up his hands trying to calm the Wolverine.

"No. Storm was only partially hit. Rouge was able to deflect the blast by knocking the weapon from the Nanny's hands, only it broke on impact when the Nanny kicked it and it hit a wall. But before it did so, during the scuffle with Rouge, it blasted our would be villainess back to her younger days." Logan looked angry

"For once Hank just tell me what's wrong with Storm?" Hank's shoulders slumped.

"Very well, the effects of the weapon only partially hitting Storm wiped sixteen years off her age. Our Ororo is now the age of an eighteen year old with her mind still at her real age and we cannot reverse the effects due to the weapon being in pieces and the Nanny a child who has no idea who she is or of her life as an adult. It seems without Rouge's inhibitor on, the effects of her mutant ability and the weapon did wonders in mind wiping her for good" Remy chirped up.

"Well at least she can grow up as a good guy this time." Rouge glared at him. Logan just whistled.

"So how's she coping?' Marie signed.

"Well she's been in her room since it happened she won't come out and Kitty's been upstairs with her. I tried to tell her she was still the same woman but she's upset that the students won't accept her as an authority figure any more and she's bummed about it." Logan started laughing. Peter came walking back in.

"What is so funny?" Logan had to hold on to the table.

"You guys are. Here I'm thinking Storm might be crippled or something and she's upset because she's sixteen years younger. Hell there are people who'd paid this nanny character cash money to be younger again." Marie rolled her eyes.

"Leave it to you suge to be an insensitive jerk." Logan grinned.

"She up in her room?" Gambit spoke up.

"She no want to see anybody Logan, she was adamant about that. She won't even see Remy and Remy is Stormys' Padnat" Logan smirked.

"When has that ever stopped me?" He strode out of the med lab inhaling all the scents he'd become familiar with since living at the mansion. He was glad to be back home. He stopped when he reached the stairwell that led upstairs. He sighed. Now the work begins.

On his way towards the stairs he passed Artie and Jimmy talking in whispers.

"I hope Ms. Munroe doesn't leave us." Jimmy spoke.

"Me too who'd run the school?" Logan after listening ran up faster to the attic staircase and nearly bowled Kitty over.

"Sorry Shortstuff, Storm in her room?" Kitty looked at him smiled and then hugged him tight.

"So glad that you're back." Logan had to grin despite himself.

"Where else is an old dog like me gonna go. Storm in there?" Kitty shook her head as she wiped away her happy tears. Logan spotted Peter down by the staircase waiting on Kitty.

He knocked once then entered Storm's room. She was sitting on her bed with her legs folded under her, facing the large balcony doors. The first thing Logan noticed was that her hair was pure white and long, damn near pass her butt. It looked almost silky straight except he could see some curl and waves to it. Then he noted that Storm looked a little fuller then she normally did.

Her butt he noted was rounder and perfectly large, from where he stood. He approached her slowly. She still hadn't turned around and was holding her head with her right hand while she had her left hand twirling circles on her left kneecap. Logan noted she appeared to be thinking hard and not even aware that he was in her room.

He walked slowly noticing how her skin glowed a bright shiny chocolate brown and as he came nearer he saw her bust was a lot bigger then he remembered. 'Did Storm have a breast reduction prior to me coming here? If so what the hell for?' he wondered as he took in the changes in her body. She finally noticed him because she sat up with a start.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked nearly jumping off of her bed. He got a good look at her now. She was a knockout, not that she wasn't before, but damn she was fuller figured, stacked in all the right places and a very sexy looking young woman he noted. He also saw the look of her eyes a bright blue and clearer then crystal. For years he had thought her eyes were brown until he found out she wore contacts to cover them, why he never understood.

Logan just stood there for a while gawking at her. Ororo shut her eyes and then opened them back mad as hell.

"Look Wolverine if you just came to gawk at me then leave, please." Logan broke out of his revelry and grinned.

"Well I thought you'd at least be glad to see me." Ororo looked at him hard.

"Oh you're the regular Logan, I mean Wolverine." She walked away from him. Logan was stumped.

"What. That's it. No glad you're back Logan. Good to have you among us again." Ororo stopped as she got to her door.

"Why would you care if I said that to you?" Logan looked confused.

"What do ya mean why would I care?" Ororo looked calm.

"Just what I said. We're not friends, you don't even like me. We seldom if ever speak. We don't hang out together and for the last year or so we avoid being in the same room together." Logan looked stunned. Ororo just folded her arms across her chest.

"When have we ever been friends? You don't like me Wolverine and frankly I don't like you. You were closer to Jean and Charles, not me." Logan looked stumped then answered.

"We run the team together." Ororo sighed.

"We're associates Wolverine not friends." Logan looked hurt.

"Of course we're friends Storm we're X-men." Ororo just looked at him. Her face impassive as she stared him in the eyes.

"We're friends right?" she asked as Logan grinned slowly.

"Right." He answered when Ororo walked slowly over to him.

"Then friend what's my name?" Logan smirked before answering.

"Storm." Ororo shook her head.

"My real name, not my codename." Logan looked a bit shocked then went to answer.

"It's Orooroo. Your name is hard to say, but Ro is easier." He messed it up bad and knew it. Ororo just glared shaking her head and looked a lot more disappointed then mad, but only for a brief second then the look was gone.

"You have no idea how to pronounce my name and no doubt you don't even know my middle name. You address me as Storm night and day. We don't hang out together. We seldom talk unless it's team related. I am not your friend. Maybe you need to visit Hank. You and he are friends Logan. I'm just a teammate who's never been close to you. So let's keep it that way shall we?" Logan stared at her. He couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth.

"First off your name is hard to pronounce, secondly we do talk, just that we tend to yell more often then not and third there's no way in hell I'm hanging out with Hank. I only get half of every sentence he puts out of that mouth of his." Ororo just sighed again. She walked over to her door and held it open.

"Goodnight Logan." Logan took a breath.

"Look I know ya trying to cope with being so much younger in your body but your mind's still the same. Nothing else has changed Stor….Ro and you shouldn't let your outward appearance stop you from being you." Ororo just stared at him open mouthed as Logan smiled as he sailed out of her bedroom door. Ororo closed it staring at the door.

Logan found himself down in the lab with Hank after greeting all the kids at school. Jubilee had been overwrought to have him back and even Artie had been pleased. Now he sat asking Hank some rather intimate questions all about Ro.

"Say Hank why's Ro so… so…" Hank stared at him.

"Just spit it out Logan." They were drinking some of Logan's stronger Canadian brand beer. His good stuff that he hid in the lab's sub-basement away from Storm. Logan shrugged his shoulders as he downed more beer.

"Alright why is she so stacked at this age but when I meet her years later she's smaller." Hank nearly choked.

"Because Logan women are, regardless of whether they're mutant or not, slaves to fashion trends and will either starve or binge to look like what the fashion world considers beautiful. Despite what our Ororo looks like she was very insecure about her looks at a young age. She always felt that Jean was the one everyone cared about while she faded into the wallpaper, so she dropped a huge amount of weight nearly damaging her health in the process." Logan drank his beer slower. The realization of Hank's words hitting him.

"Storm though she was fat and ugly?" Hank looked thoughtful staring at the cool mist rising from his cold can.

"Sometimes the most beautiful flower feels unloved and our Ororo always felt that she was an afterthought. She never sought attention once she turned twenty-one. She just stayed to herself especially after Forge." Logan stared.

"Who's Forge?" Hank looked up.

"And my preverbal trap can never keep shut." Logan arched a brow and stared harder at Hank. Hank shuttered and shook his shoulders.

"Fine. Forge was Ororo's first love and was several years older then her by about ten. She was eighteen when they first met and she fell madly in love with him. They became engaged a year after they met and had planned on having a big wedding here at the mansion where we all assumed they were to live. Until Forge accepted an offer to work a large government contact in Washington state.

He wanted Ororo to join him and move there to start their new life. You understand Ororo had a hard life as an orphan in Africa and this was more home to her then any she remembered so she asked for time to think about it. Well Forge didn't take her wanting to wait very well so he left her but not before we discovered he had deflowered our beautiful Ororo and left her a heartbroken young woman." Logan grunted.

"So old Forge was a pig uhh." Hank shrugged his shoulders.

"A cad would be a better word but he hurt her, not too mention having to see Scott and Jean so in love everyday. Ororo went more into herself and teaching. She just shut out any thoughts of romance and concerned herself with the students and the X-men. The drastic weight loss followed." Logan grinned.

"Well now she can start again." Hank laughed, he was drinking too much of Logan's strong beer.

"Start again with whom? I will admit I too once though I could have a relationship with our Windrider, but alas I am not what most women want. No our Ororo is a flower too exotic for me, or better yet she is a Goddess as they worshiped her in Africa. A vision that one places on a pedestal and admires from afar but dare not touch." Logan just sat back with his arms folded and stared long and hard at Hank.

"Who in the hell just admires a beautiful woman? Ya do like women don't ya?" Finally after coming back from his revelry Hank spoke.

"Of course I do! I'm speaking poetically. I could never deserve a flower like Ororo and I have noticed her for years, but I know she never felt that way about me." Logan grunted as Hank stared hard at him.

"And you my boy made it very plain that our Red haired Jean was the object that you coveted the most. Ororo has been treated like wallpaper and she knows it. Ignored by us mere mortals in favor of our wanting women who were easier to obtain. We all ignored a Goddess." Hank hiccupped and then laughed before looking in Logan's eyes and bending down closer to tell him something.

"In fact that other Logan was hard to keep away from her. He would go bat-shit crazy, as the kids say, if any male went too near Ororo. It really put her out of sorts. That Logan made it plain she was his and no one was allowed too get near her. She though it strange until I uncovered that he had married and mated his Ororo and they had children." Logan looked at Hank.

"You told her this?" Hank smiled half asleep.

"I had too or else I couldn't explain why I had to lock that Logan up tight to keep him from jumping our Goddess. Can't have that you know. Imagine two alternate world Ororo's pregnant by the same Logan. No, not on my watch." Then Hank's head hit his desk and Logan heard the sounds of heavy snoring coming from old big blue. Logan got up he needed a smoke and another way of getting the image of this Ororo's new look out of his head. Damned if she didn't look like the alternate world Ororo. It had Logan feeling like he was going Bat-shit crazy.

Sitting up on the roof Ororo Munroe watched quietly as Logan made his way towards the wooded area of the estate. He stopped midway down the path then lit up his cigar and turned towards her direction. She arched an eyebrow. He looked dead into her eyes and grinned as he inhaled his cigar, turned and walked right into the forest. Ororo glared.

"Pompous ass." She stood up and dusted off her jeans as she floated down to her balcony. 'Now I have to alter my wardrobe again.' She thought as she made her way to her bathroom. She started her bath and poured in the oils she loved so much as she undressed pining up her now longer hair. She stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bath and looked at her now fuller shape.

"Great back to my youth again." Ororo moaned as she lowered herself into her hot bath to soak.

Logan sat out on the pier enjoying his smoke as he looked at the now falling apart boathouse. There had been plans to remodel this place into a home for Scott and Jean when they married but that was over once Jean died the first time and then came back to kill Scooter and Wheels. Logan inhaled his cigar deeply as he though about why Ororo was upset. 'Hell she has to relive her youth without them now. Not too mention having me act like a jerk around her.'

He sat back leaning into one of the dock's poles He was enjoying the favor of his cigar and the cool feel of the night air thinking about what Hank had said about how his alternate's behavior towards Ro shook her up. He though about how this place looked on the alternate world. Instead of a rundown boat house it was a real home.

The alternate world Logan and Ororo had made a very nice home with those cute and loveable babies. It had stunned Logan as he had returned later that night and stuck inside the house to see how much it looked like and smelled like a home filled with love. There were personal touches everywhere that had signs of how the two had made a life together. The wedding picture threw him. They looked so happy and content. He even saw how much Scott and Jean loved each other. For all there bickering they really knew each other well and it showed. He inhaled longer.

He stared out into the now quiet lake and shook his head. This world was nothing like the one he just left. No Charles, no Scott, no Jean. Here this Ororo had made it plain, they were not friends. His behavior in the past didn't help. He was always gruff and rude to her. She didn't need to be psychic to know he had only wanted Jean and didn't want anyone to get in his way, back then anyhow.

Logan knew this Ororo wasn't going to forget how he treated her in the past. He was callous towards her. Often pushed her aside like a ragdoll and ignored anything she had to say. He wasn't a friend she had been right about that. Now he had to change all that and prove himself worthy. He knew it was strange to her and to him in some ways. But Logan just got that gut feeling that if he didn't it would be the worst mistake of his life. He sure as hell didn't want that.

Logan was out for a few hours as the night wore on inhaling the smells that gave his weary body and mind some peace. He though about all that he'd learned during the alternate world shift, short as it was. He was missing those babies already. Funny he could've sworn he smelled old Chuck. He always smelled of leather and that damned Ole English aftershave he loved so much. He heard a voice calling him. He looked up it was Rouge flying overhead.

"Are you going deaf Suge? I been calling ya for a while now." Logan put out his cigar.

"What's wrong now?" Rouge grinned landing by him as he sat still leaning on the dock.

"I do believe ya gonna find something right this time." Logan glared at her wondering what the hell she meant by that. Then Rouge took off again headed for the mansion as Logan got up and started to follow her low flying form.

"Hell a man can't even get a good smoke alone around here no more." He took off at a run after Rouge who was flying faster towards the mansion.

Logan was shocked when he entered the back door, instead of Hank being knocked out in his basement bedroom he was now wide awake and grinning talking to a long tall slender woman with reddish brown hair who looked to be about fortyish. Logan then noticed that Remy, Kitty, Peter and Bobby were all downstairs as well as a vast majority of the students who were all coming from the direction of the professor's office.

He didn't see Storm. Then a voice came into his mind. 'Come in Logan, it will be good to see you again.' Logan stopped dead in his tracks. Hank and the tall woman noticed his stupefied stare.

"You must be Logan then." The woman walked over to him, hand extended with a big smile.

"Shocking isn't it to hear Charles' voice again after so long a time." Logan couldn't speak just stared with his mouth open. Hank actually snickered.

"Go in Logan, you won't regret it." Hank encouraged as the others all stood looking a bit shocked but happy. Logan felt his feet moving him as his mind was in a whirlwind. He entered the office and the door closed behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Something strange Something new

Hope you like my little RoLo story. Here's chapter 2. Please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or it's characters. This is a work of fiction and I only own my characters and no other. I make no money from this. Damn it all!

Chapter 2

Ororo was lightly sleeping in her bath. She had fallen asleep in the now very lukewarm water. She came awake fast with the sound of a thump on her balcony. She listened keeping still, wondering who or what it was as she silently got out of the tub. She used her abilities to float out of the water and dry herself off. Grabbing her robe and wrapping it tightly around her. Ororo smelled it then, the faint odor of cigars and beer.

'Logan.' She inwardly cursed as she floated out of her bathroom window and came around to the balcony. Logan was seated in her chair by the corner looking at the pictures on her wall. Studying one of her as a young girl when Charles had picked her up front the airport. He never turned to look at her. A lot of pictures showed Ororo, Jean, Scott and Hank as they were in their teens and younger days. Smiling and happy.

"I take it that these are all pictures of you and the gang back when ya first came here?" Ororo stared at Logan. He seemed to be a little off to her. He seemed very peaceful to her though. Very strange for Logan.

"Logan why are you in my room?" Ororo almost was afraid too ask. Logan just sat staring at the pictures for some time before he finally spoke.

"Chuck's back." Ororo looked at him as if he were crazy. Some strange Logan joke. She rolled her eyes. His back was still facing her until he turned. His eyes when he stared at her finally told her he was very serious.

"He's in his office and wants to see you." Ororo put her hand to her mouth and Logan could see that she was shaking.

"How…how is this possible? We both saw him die when Jean….Jean…" She was stuttering and nearly fell on to the floor. Logan was up fast and quick as he grabbed her and held her. She shook and couldn't seem to stop. Her heartbeat was racing. He just held her tighter rubbing her back and holding her still as the shock ran through her. Ororo was still trembling. After a while her body calmed down. Slowly he sat her down and told her to get dressed.

He would take her to see the man who was like a father to her. Ororo could only nod her head as Logan went outside her door and waited for a very shell shocked Ororo. She got dressed like a robot on automatic, pulling on underwear, jeans, tee shirt and soft slippers. Then she opened the door. Logan stood just outside. He could hear every sound Ororo had made inside getting dressed. He could hear her heartbeat. Much more steady now then when she had first gotten the news. Logan took her hand leading her to the professor's office.

The sun shone brighter this morning Ororo noted as she awoke. She was still laying in her bed after spending half the night crying tears of joy at seeing the professor back. Charles Xavier had reappeared like an angel sent from heaven to his school. The children seeming to awaken in groups of six or more, all coming down last night to find their late mentor alive again. Everyone had seemed as if in a daze.

His tale was amazing. Just a split second before what the Phoenix crazed Jean Grey planned to do to him, Charles Xavier had left his mortal body and jumped via the astral plane into the body of Moira's patient zero in Scotland. There he stayed with Moira until he could control the body of his brain dead twin and return back to his school and students. The effort had taken a lot longer then either one of them thought.

Charles' twin had a body that had never walked or controlled any of it's motor skills. He had to teach himself to walk and talk as well as feed himself and get dressed. This body unlike his old one had problems with walking, thus the wheelchair. It seems the spinal cord of his twin had been badly damaged during birth. It was far too late to correct the problem as well.

Although his mind took over the body. It was like working with silly putty. The body he now occupied had to learn everything that most babies took for granted. Even feeding himself took great effort. Charles was amazed and humbled that it took so long to master control of the body he now inhabited. So much for being the world's greatest telepath. The human body still proved itself to be the greatest machine on Earth.

The professor stated that he could sense the war going on in Jeans mind. Right before he fled his own body. He knew that if he hadn't he would have been disbursed into the universe with one single thought by Jean's alter ego. The Phoenix was fighting Jean for complete control and Jean was losing the battle. He had no time to alert either Ororo or Logan before he fled his own body. That had pained him greatly but the effort to gain access to his brain dead twin had nearly killed him. He had used more power then he ever knew. Attempting to construct the dead cells into a functioning living brain was a feat unlike anything Charles Xavier had ever encountered. It made him see the true power of the universe was beyond man or mutant kind.

He had taken a full year before he could use the body to move or speak verbally to Moira. One call of her name mentally was what had alerted her to his presence prior to his ability to use the mouth of his twin. That alone had put him into a coma like state for some time before he awakened. Nearly giving Moira a heart attack when he called her name verbally months later.

The road back to his old life had been painful but worth it. The mansion had felt like home again. The smiles that framed all the faces were real. Everyone including Charles felt like they could now face another day without the empty dread they'd all carried. It was good to be at the school again. Ororo had Thanked her Goddess several times last night.

Ororo just felt a great sense of relief to have her mentor back. Now she had an anchor again. One who wouldn't ride off on his bike when things got heavy and leave her with all the mess. One who would talk to her and not growl if he didn't wish to be bothered. She was glad to have Charles back if only for the company of a man who would acknowledge her.

Hank had been too busy going back and forth to D.C. Tying up his loose ends before settling down to the school full-time. Poor Hank had been like a whirlwind. Mourning his family and friends, finishing up his work in Washington and trying to aid her as best he could as she took over the school. If not for Hank's weekly calls and talks she would have gone mad. Logan could have cared less.

She sighed smiling happily. No more paperwork with her having to spend hours locked in Charles' office going over applications, tax forms, bills or even letters from his lawyers. No more unending phone calls from worried parents. Many fearful that their children would have to return home. Most because they either didn't want people to know about their mutant child or they didn't want their child uneducated. Many non-mutant schools would not take them still. Ororo breathed deeply. She felt content. That feeling had been missing forever. She felt alive again.

She lifted up off her bed and floated to her bathroom. Something she seldom did. But today felt like it was a blessing from the Goddess. Charles' return certainly was. She was pleased and happy until she saw her reflection in the mirror. 'Great. I'm still young.' Ororo sighed as she washed up to get ready for her day.

Since the Nanny incident, today was the first time she actually felt like leaving her room, aside from last night. Everyone was too caught up with Charles' return to notice her. She put on a pair of brown slacks and white blouse with some soft flats. Luckily Ororo still had some clothes in her wardrobe from her fuller figured days.

The Goddess had blessed her with the insight to leave clothes from her younger days alone. Several suits, dresses, jeans and assorted clothing still sat in her large walk-in closet from those days. She put her hair in a ponytail with some tendrils of lose hair that caressed her face. She signed when she saw herself.

"I still look like a child." Ororo checked out her figure. She half turned to check out her backside. Her once size zero figure was up to her teenaged size nine. It made Ororo want to hide.

"I damn near look like Mae West." She spoke out loud looking at her fuller behind, larger boobs and shrugging. She heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. She turned towards the sound.

"Ahhmm." Logan stood at her open balcony doors.

"Did you forget to knock at my door? And did you also forget to stop appearing on my balcony?" Logan smirked. A sly grin slide across his face.

"I think your figures fine. Nothing was ever wrong with Mae West in my book." Ororo frowned. She folded her arms under her now larger breasts.

"Get out now. Please." Logan grinned full on as he winked at her.

"Ya did say please Darlin." He moved to walk out her front door. Ororo stared at him as he grunted out.

"Ya did say to use your front door." Ororo rolled her eyes.

"Yes I did and stop making fun of everything I say too. I don't go hanging out in your room." Logan gave her a predatory grin.

"Wouldn't mind one bit if you did Darlin." He winked at her again as he left. Ororo huffed speaking to herself as she caught her appearance in her mirror again.

"I am losing this extra weight." She heard Logan growl out.

"Not on my watch Darlin." Ororo threw a shoe at her door.

"Stop listening to my private conversations!" She yelled before hearing a knock on her door. Kitty stuck her head through the door.

"Who are you talking too Ro?" Ororo just sat down in a huff on her bed.

"Nobody Kitten just yelling to test my lungs." Kitty grinned.

"Okay. All right. We'll forgive all strange behavior because the professor's back." Ororo smiled and got up to follow Kitty outside her door heading downstairs for breakfast. Ororo still felt some fear about going out but Charles had told her last night. His return from the grave would garner most if not all of the attention. She felt better already.

'The breakfast had been wonderful.' Ororo though it had reminded her of the days when Scott and Jean were alive. But they weren't, instead the professor had acquired Moira Cassidy plus the new non-mutant student teacher Ms. Geri Randall.

She had been an exchange student from America working with Moira. Apparently she was above and beyond her peers in her field. She was a brain that showed no hatred or malice towards mutants. That was plain to see from the way she smiled at each person she met. Her smile met her eyes. She was also a nerd of the highest order and clumsy wouldn't begin to describe her. She tripped three times over her own two feet. But Ororo noted she had a heart as wide as the ocean.

That was clear to see when little Lizzie, a five year old mutant who looked more like a bird then a human; with her beak like nose and mouth, had fallen and hurt her small hand. Geri had been right there holding and comforting the girl not even weirded out as the kids put it by Lizzie's less then human appearance. To Geri all she saw was a small child who needed aid and care. She gave that, not even knowing that Ororo had seen them out in the hallway by the back stairwell outside the kitchen.

Geri was holding a crying Lizzie in her arms as the little one quieted down and hugged her back. Geri rocked her speaking words of comfort as she rubbed the booboo on Lizzie's tiny hand. Making Lizzie giggle in that sing-songie voice she had. She was smiling as much as her face allowed by the time Geri entered the kitchen with her. Lizzie giving her hugs and hellos' before running out to play with the other kids.

Ororo knew then the professor still could glean which non-mutants to trust. Even the wary Wolverine seemed to give Geri a thumbs up having sniffed the air surrounding the woman when he though no one noticed him. Ororo did. She said nothing sipping her tea and eating her toast and eggs. She had forgotten all about her diet. She was too busy laughing and talking to Kitty, Moira and Geri when she joined them. Never even noticing the appreciative looks that the majority of the males were giving her.

Most of the young male teen students were not at the school when Ororo was younger. Thus the more fuller figured woman at the table had them mesmerized. Ororo wasn't even aware that many were gawking at her as they pretended to eat. One young man actually burned his hand attempting to get a cup of coffee. Another was pouring salt into his cereal and a third was buttering his toast with whipped cream. Never seeing what tub he had in front of him.

They were all too enchanted with the Goddess that was seated a few feet from them. Even Marie had to help one young man who was warming his bacon to a blackened state because he couldn't tear his eyes from Ororo. He couldn't move from staring at her face and figure. Many were too caught-up with how her longer hair shined in the kitchen skylight. Or how perfect her body looked in the brown slacks that hugged her larger butt. How her blouse accented her larger breasts.

The small show of cleavage nearly made one teen walk into the door jam. Logan had to steer him towards the opening. Her small wasp waist and the sway of her fuller hips were making the hormone level raise in the kitchen. How her chest shook when she laughed. Even the scent of her was like a spell being cast on them.

The spring season wasn't helping matters either. The scent of interest and arousal was growing. Logan watched each male the whole time. His beast growing madder by the second. It was driving him up the wall. It took a lot to keep his claws from popping out. He was inhaling all of the musk being thrown off of these teens and he was not liking it. His face grew darker as did his eyes.

One low growl of warning from Logan had made them all back off a safe distance from her. Charles sat quietly sipping his coffee and never said a word. He knew he didn't have too. It took Moira to compliment Ororo on having a figure she wished she could have for Ororo to realize maybe the diet should be damned. After all even if she looked younger inside she was still a woman of an age who knew her mind and to hell with others who didn't get her.

Hell she was well past learning to love herself. So why not see her return to youth as a blessing. The Goddess always knew what was best for her. With a happy bounce to her walk after breakfast she strode purposely towards her green house this morning. Clad in her old jean cut offs and tank top. Barefoot as well. School was cancelled. Her plants awaited her.

Classes were to resume next week the children getting a week's vacation so that a welcome home party could be done for the professor. Also allowing Hank time to craft some plausible way of explaining his return from the dead. Not only to the parents but also the various government agencies that worked with the school. Nick Fury would no doubt be involved. He was good at coming up with plausible excuses.

Not to mention having to deal with the parents of those students, who were still involved in their mutant children's lives. Those that gave monetary gifts to the school. As well as the favored patrons. Many of them extremely wealthy friends of Charles. They deserved an explanation as to Xavier's return from the dead. Ororo shivered. This was going to be a busy week for all.

Geri Randall was already making friends with the students. Jubilee and Marie were following her as she helped to man the preparations for the party taking place this Friday in honor of Charles's return. They were taking measurements of the grand hall. Going over what things they would need for food and entertainment. Despite Geri having knocked over several vases and walking into some walls, her glasses were not working as well as the bottle-sized rims should be, Marie was expertly becoming a seeing-eye mutant for the clumsy and nearly blind young woman.

Both Jubilee and Marie just seemed to take a liking to Geri. She was just a few years older then Marie. About two really but Marie seemed older then Geri. Ororo smiled. Geri was more like a big kid with a brain but sweet and kind hearted. She was very joyful showing the girls how she would decorate the hall for the party. Her joy was making the two mutants laugh as Ororo watched from the large windows as she walked to her greenhouse.

The professor had whispered to Ororo that he would have Hank working on some contacts for her eyes which were showing signs of glaucoma in it's very early stages. Hank had already been working with Worthington labs since leaving his government job. He was working on cures for various illness, some of which were just hitting the market now.

Many were proving a god sent to millions. The money that the patents to these cures he created was helping to fill the coffers of the school and the X-men. Not to mention the great joy it gave Hank to help mutants and non-mutants. Charles saw it as another way to defuse anti-mutant hatred.

Ororo was humming to herself as she watered and potted plants. Bringing sunshine into her large greenhouse and causing a bright beautiful day for the entire county. No one was complaining as the students were all around the estate enjoying their mini vacation from school this week. Her vegetables had been neglected for too long.

Her carrots, celery and cherry tomatoes looked a little thin. Ororo was giving them extra attention. Then came her dwarf trees. She had gotten the dwarf fruit trees from Warren as a birthday gift two years ago. They were thriving. Her lemons, oranges and bananas were growing well. It pleased her to see life being grown. Even her rare roses, a treat she'd grown for Jean, were flourishing. Hank had said her rare dark blue roses were the best he'd ever seen. Of course he was biased.

Ororo was nearly at her last plant when she noted a shift in the wind. The faint odor of beer and cigars hit her nose. 'Logan' she though as she turned to see the Wolverine. He was standing near her doorway just staring at her. His eyes almost looked like the alternate's.

They were dark and had what she though was a faint glow. Glow? She was no doubt imagining that. She put her plant in the soil bed then looked back. He was still staring at her. Was this some new habit of his? Seek out Ororo. Startle her. When had that happened? She looked hard at him.

He was leaning now, against the open doorway of her greenhouse.

"Are you lost Wolverine?" Ororo asked still working on her plants.

Logan grinned. He had been watching her as she worked in her soil with her plants. She had been joyfully placing one plant after another into the soil beds as she laid down the numerous plants. Tending to them all like she did the students. These were her children too. She didn't even sense him near. Her plants seemed to bring her peace. He'd inhaled the environment. He could understand it. He slowly walked over to her stopping to inhale one of the largest and deepest blue colored roses he'd ever seen.

"You grow this yourself?" Ororo glanced up at him stunned to see Logan enjoying a flower like any other person would.

"Of course. This is my greenhouse." Logan grunted. Ororo stopped as she planted the last plant in her soil bed and rose dusting off her hands as she went towards her makeshift sink and made a small raincloud to wash her hands and arms.

"So Wolverine what brings you to my greenhouse, besides my very large roses." Logan grinned slyly, he could answer that question with something bold but decided against it.

"I forgot I got something to show ya." With that he pulled out a small photograph that Ororo took after air-drying her hands.

As she looked at it she saw in the picture two people who resembled Logan and herself. They were holding two of the cutest babies that she had ever seen. The picture she realized was of the alternate world Wolverine and Storm with their twin babies. The twins were the spitting images of their parents. Ororo stared open mouthed at the picture of two very happy people holding two very happy and very beautiful children.

She nearly fell back onto the workbench she was standing in front of. Logan caught her as she sat down hard. Slowly her eyes looked up at him. Logan was trying to read her face. Her heartbeat was rapid.

"This is why he was so crazy to get home." She nearly whispered the words but Logan heard her.

"Yeah, I figure if any man had that he would be hell bent on getting back to them." Ororo looked at him.

"How did you get this picture?" Logan smiled showing his teeth.

"The other Stor..Ro gave it to me. She felt that maybe you'd like to see it." Ororo felt her face flush as she stood on shaky legs. She needed to put distance between herself and Logan. The picture gave her a very odd feeling in her stomach. It was a strange feeling. She couldn't identify it.

"They make a lovely family." She stated standing a little awkwardly and giving Logan back the picture. Logan heard her heartbeat speed up faster. Hell she was nervous too. Ororo was moving away from him like she needed distance. She was trying to make a hasty exit as Logan blocked her way.

"Why are you in a hurry to get away from me?" Ororo glared at him. She bit her lip before speaking.

"I'm not. Besides when have you ever wanted to be near me before the unexpected change?" She stared at Logan with cold eyes. She looked mad but her pulse was rapid. She was faking her anger. Trying to fool him. Something else was bugging her. He smelled fear and shock.

"When did I ever run from ya when we were fighting to save our lives, the kids or the world's?" Ororo folded her arms in front of her chest. Her face had faltered a bit, Logan noticed. He heard her pulse quicken then get steady as she was willing herself to calm down.

"What game are you playing Logan? Jean's gone so now Ororo will do. Or did your trip to the other one's world cause this attention to me? Please don't flatter me. Go find someone else to level this attention on or what ever it is." Logan stared at her as if she'd gone mad.

"Ya think I'm paying you attention because Jean's dead? The other Ororo didn't have anything to do with ya. You two are as different as night and day. Hell we barely talked like we do. Jeanie was never mine. She belonged to Scooter. That's what you think it's all about Jean or some other version of you?" Ororo sighed deeply and looked Logan right in the eyes.

"Explain this then." Ororo gestured to his presence in her greenhouse. He never entered her oasis. Just as she never entered the danger room was he was in it. They had always kept their distance. Logan was floored and then he spoke.

"How insecure are you? What has no man ever paid you any attention before? Ya gotta think it's cause Jean's dead that I notice ya?"

The shock of what he said hit her slowly at first. Then she stared at him as if she'd never seen him before. He heard her heart beating like a drum growing louder with each breath. Her blue eyes were slowly turning whiter. Then he smelled the scent of ozone in the air. Her expression wasn't pretty. Ororo felt like she wanted to shot a lighting bolt up his ass.

"What." she choked the word out. It sounded like a sixty pound stone hitting a wooden floor. The coldness in it froze him. She placed her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

"You're calling me insecure? You have the gall to bring up Jean to my face! Me! I'm not the one who runs after someone else's fiancée so I can feel like I've won a prize. Logan." Her voice was like ice.

"I am also not the one who has to make snide remarks to people all the time Logan. I don't label people with dumb nicknames to get attention either Logan. Or perhaps I don't give them nicknames simply because I can be bothered to remember their real names. Logan." Ororo was riled up. Her heartbeat let Logan know she was beyond pissed. He could smell the ozone better now. Lighting was even flashing. Did he hear thunder?

"And as for Jean. Yes I have every right to bring her up. When did you ever pay me any attention prior to your trip to another world. For two years since Jean and Scott died I was wallpaper to you! You wouldn't have known if I had stopped breathing for the way you moped around Jeans grave site. Every night Logan you sat there and brooded. You acted as if no one else was in pain!" The fact that she yelled at him stunned Logan speechless. Ororo was losing that calm façade she wore all the time. The sky was leaking big raindrops outside.

"You never noticed how Marie or Jubilee were hurting. You didn't pay any attention to Kitty or Peter having their growing pains. You ignored Bobby when he had to deal with his parents leaving the country in a letter that came to him three months after they left." Ro was just warming up.

"As for your other world Ororo. As I understand it the Logan she knew was nothing like you. He apparently had made plain his intentions towards her from day one. Let me recall. You never bothered to thank either Scott or myself for your rescue from Sabretooth. Ah Yes Marie thanked us. You never bothered."

She spoke each word like she wanted him to know just how angry pissed off and tired she was of Logan and his ways. For the past couple of years Ororo had to do everything by herself. Hank had taken two years to get here for good. Logan had left it all in her hands.

"Ring a bell for you. Ignore everything and everyone so long as you are given what you want. Jean was your goal but you had to kill her after she turned into the entity. Now that she's gone what else is there? Ahh yes a new Ororo to use as another goal. Oh yes to hell with everyone and everything else again. Reminds me once again of the last few years. When you ignored the school, the bills the trauma everyone went through for your own pain. You call me insecure? Logan. Insecure, insecure! Well I'm calling you selfish! The most self-centered selfish ass that ever lived! You selfish ego manic! Selfish! Look it up in the dictionary Logan." She said his name like it was a bad aftertaste in her mouth. The rain was pouring down in the dark and extremely stormy sky.

"You'll find your picture right next to the word. You.." She was pointing that long slender right hand finger in his stunned face. The word she wanted stuck in her throat. But she started again. Calmer now but still peeved.

"The attention hound of the X-men. The man who doesn't seem to realize that your quest for attention is the sign of someone so grossly insecure and selfish that you can't function unless someone pays you any kind of attention be it good or bad!" Ororo was yelling at the top of her lungs at him.

He though she was gonna hit him but instead she stormed off and out of the greenhouse. Moving like the wind to avoid being near him.

The sky was darker now with storm clouds sending down biting rain. Harsh lighting and thunder covering the sky. It shook the greenhouse as the heavy rain fell down in buckets. Logan all but felt the mental summons of professor X. It too sounded like a shout in his head.

"Women." Logan grunted lighting up a stogie as he walked out into the pouring rain towards the garage. Wet or not he was smoking it. He would see the Professor after his smoke and a cold one. Maybe.

Kitty and Peter were upstairs in his room after seeing Logan enter the greenhouse and then hearing the shouts that had taken place. They both stared at each other grinning.

"I think he likes her." Peter said to his petite girlfriend. Kitty laughed sitting contently on Peter's lap.

"Oh I've no doubt, but he's just so bad about trying to get with her. I'm amazed. I thought the great Wolverine had women falling all over him." Peter laughed holding his gut and hugging Kitty.

"Maybe that's the problem. Storm will not fall all over him nor giggle like Dr. Grey did when he flirted with her." Kitty snuggled into Peter's arms.

"No way not Ro. Wolive's gonna have to try more finesse to get Ro. She's nothing like Dr. Grey and she thinks he has the manners of a dog." Peter laughed out loud. He could barely speak from laughter.

"Maybe we should help them Katya." Kitty grinned as she looked up into Peter's dark brown eyes.

"You maybe right. But we'll need help with those two. After all they are two of the most bullheaded people I've ever seen." Peter grunted rubbing her arm and murmured a "Da." As he held Kitty in his massive arms watching the rain fall down.

Five days had passed since the incident in the greenhouse. Charles had tactfully delayed the party until next Friday. Delighting the students with a lighter school agenda. Half days were the week's norm. He wanted the children to be left out of the drama between his two adult children.

Ororo and Logan were avoiding each other. Although they had had several sighing's of one another. Mostly with Logan stumbling's upon Ororo in the woods or the kitchen. They ended with her fleeing from his stony stare or his huffing as he made an raging retreat from her presence.

It was making everyone uneasy around the mansion. Moira and Hank felt as if they were walking on egg shells. Ororo was hiding out in her room more. Logan barely left the garage. The situation was bleak. The students were placing bets on when the next blow-up was going to happen.

Ororo had heard about the pool and came to see Charles. She was upset and not happy. He felt her hurt, confusion and an emotion she was trying to suppress when she came to his office today. She was clearly unsettled by Logan's new found attention. Charles also suspected some other feeling was going through her but Ororo clamped down on her mind when she felt him probing.

Logan hadn't come to him the day he called him. He though it best to leave him be for awhile. But after Ororo left he made Logan come to his office. Mostly by a stronger summons that nearly brought out the Wolverine.

Charles Xavier sat in his wheelchair rubbing his temples as his most feral member of the X-men exited his office. Ororo had already requested that she be allowed to move to the small boat house on the far side of the estate. Mainly because she couldn't and wouldn't deal with Logan's unwanted attention anymore.

The house was in disrepair. But Ororo insisted that she couldn't take anymore of Logan's endless attention or what ever his problem was. She even told Charles that she would repair it herself. Charles sighed. He could see there was something strong and viable between Logan and Ororo. The two strong personalities were butting heads instead of communicating. Logan was confused about his feeling for Ororo. That was apparent.

He came into the office and told Charles he didn't understand what her problem was. So he was paying her some attention. Hell they lived in the same house for years. Why not. Charles had to slap his face on that one.

Logan pretended he didn't have a clue as to why Ororo wanted him to leave her alone. She was fearful after the week long encounter with the more feral Logan and he was intrigued after his experience on the alternate world.

Both were reacting to what Charles suspected could be long buried feelings for one another after all these years.

Charles found it curious that both always fought each other about almost everything. The love-hate relationship was there for most anyone to see but the two people involved. He sat at his desk not believing that two grown people were so unaware of the denied attraction they both had for one another. It baffled him as to why they had both closed their eyes and their hearts to what was happening to them.

For the mere five years Logan had been with the X-men prior to Jean Grey's death he'd believed that he was in love with her and after her death the first time, he had mourned her almost as much as Scott. Then with the return of Jean and her showing him the interest that he'd always wanted, he was confused again when he felt Jean's mind in the last moments before she died crying out for Scott.

Logan had always known on some level that he never had a chance with Jean. His feral side never claimed Jean and Logan knew this as well. If Jean had seriously been the woman for him, the Wolverine would have come out to claim her. But it hadn't. It came out when he confronted Ororo and on more then one occasion. That alone had shaken Logan. Because he knew. He knew on the most primal level that the Wolf knew it's mate.

Now with the recent event of his alternate world jump no matter how brief it was. Logan had gotten a glimpse of what he could've had or even could have with Ororo. His primal side was pulling him towards the woman it knew as it's mate. Logan couldn't fight the beast within even if he tried.

Knowing now about his past and having no further need to find those answers already provided to him. Logan had asked Charles to see if these memories were true. After a long three hour and a half hour session Charles found out that they were. Jean was just a memory to Logan of his long lost Rose whose death he still felt guilty about. Logan now understood he was just redirecting his unfounded guilt to Jean whose red hair and pale skin were so like his long lost Rose from so many years ago.

All of his unresolved feelings were transferred to Jean as Scott had became the catalyst that Logan used as the barrier to them being together. Scott had been the one thing that was keeping his Rose/Jean from him or so he thought. Logan was in ruins after the long session. He was shaking and sweating as he fought back the tears he never truly shed for Rose. He understood now that Jean was a child to him. One whose appearance favored Rose but who in reality was truly nothing like Rose at all.

True Jean could be warm and loving but only with her mental blocks on to hold back the Phoenix. That entity who once released showed a cold, callous nature unlike anything Rose ever had. Logan had a hard time with this session. He was feeling all the past pain from his childhood and overly long time as an adult.

He had never felt love like he had felt for Rose before. She was his first love, unrequited as it was. He did have a short and fatal love affair with a young Japanese woman but her death had ended the romance quickly. That was painful for him as well. Love that he relished denied to him again because of death once more. It was a theme in his life. Leaving Logan feeling empty and alone once again. That was the bane of his existence. He was forever alone.

Living for over two hundred years with only a half brother turned enemy named Victor Creed or Sabretooth, a sworn enemy of the X-men, as his equal. It was a half-life at best. Logan was a man who needed others despite all of his protests. He wanted what every other man could have. Family and love. He would never admit it but it was there. Like a cancer in his heart, he needed and longed for love. The beast inside demanded it's mate and Charles realized that Ororo was no doubt that mate. Not only to Logan but to the Wolverine as well.

His life had been turned upside down with his past now revealed. Although on the outside Logan looked like himself, inside he was in pieces. He had to somehow cope with the trauma and death that his life seemed to have as it's thread. Every women he had ever loved or though he did had died. He was always alone. He hated his empty life.

The trip to the alternate world had shown him he could change all that. He wanted family. He had fallen in love with those babies and with Ororo. She was the beacon that could give him that life. Ororo shined in Logan's eyes and most especially in the Wolverine's. Logan had left the office needing sleep and rest. Ororo on the other hand had her own demons.

Charles knew she had a very complex way of seeing things. Ororo despite her partnership with nature, was a woman who looked twice and sometimes thrice at everything including love. She could not accept Logan or the Wolverine now having any interest towards her. She was fearful of being hurt and betrayed again.

Life for Ororo had made her close her heart to love of that nature. Pain of rejection could kill her and many others if she were to feel that hurt again. Her past experience had caused a storm unseen like any in the county when Forge had mistreated her. Ororo had vowed to never go through that again.

Jonathan Forge had been a mistake for Ororo to love. He was much older then a teenaged Ororo. Charles had always felt he was in love more with the way she looked then who she was. His instincts had been right of course but try telling that to a teenager who thinks this is true love.

He knew it would not end well between the two. Ororo was of one mind and Forge was of another. The two did not have the same life goals in mind. Ororo had planted her feet in the Xavier estate. Forge preferred wandering. Never a good match when two people don't have the same goals. It ended very badly as far as Charles was concerned. Forge had made him think of killing after he had to comfort a heartbroken Ororo.

She was a child still to him and Forge an adult who should have known better. He had deflowered her and left her. It had angered Charles to a striking point. One he nearly crossed. Thank God for Moira coming to the school just to be a woman for Ororo to bond with. That alone had saved him from committing murder. Forge was no longer welcome at the mansion after that. Now here was Logan.

The very man who had run after Jean as if she had wings and a halo. He often shoved Ororo and everyone else out of his way in his pursuit of Jean. His disturbing her while the mental blocks were being put in place was the final straw. The entity inside her was almost in complete control. Logan had awoken it's most primal urges. He'd paid Charles no mind in seeking out his then obsession. Ororo was ignored by Logan when he ran after Jean. How could she feel anything for him? Or even believe he felt anything for her?

Not after his behavior towards her left her feeling as if she never existed while only Jean mattered for so many years. Ororo was not about to allow Logan into her heart or her life outside of a working relationship. Not if it meant being hurt. And the Goddess would never allow any man to see her as the sloppy second to any other woman.

Ororo had been hurt too much in the past. Forge was the main reason but not the only one. He had taught Ororo not to trust so openly as she once had when she had first come here from Africa. Thanks to his cold and cool treatment of Ororo, Forge was to blame for Ororo's closed heart. But the way in which even he himself had ignored or taken her for granted while tending to Jean and others was his own fault.

True Moira had come for a short stay. But Xavier had the school and other things to attend too. Ororo's calm demeanor hide her troubled soul until the drastic weight loss. That had even worried Scott. It had disturbed Henry to where he wanted to monitor her. That was when Charles knew he had failed to aid her properly and was disgusted at his inability to see what was happening to her. Thank God Hank and Jean had kept her spirits up.

Ororo had withdrawn into herself them. Teaching and her greenhouse had taken the place of love and closer bonds. She would still interact with her family. But there was distance. He felt it and tried to give her space. It hurt him then as it did now. Ororo kept things to herself. Ororo often stayed in the background. It was safer for her that way. She avoided getting hurt. It was no longer worth it when you had to deal with people who showed you that they never really cared.

It was a wake up call for Charles. Her hiding from them all while in plain site. It sobered him and broke his heart at the same time. Even Charles Xavier knew the Goddess deserved better. It had taken years to reopen her heart just a little to allow him back in. Gaining her trust had taken some time. But it was worth it.

He thought about Logan and how changed he seemed upon learning about his past, just knowing that he had one. Logan had changed. Not enough for anyone to see on the outside but inside he was changing with every breath he took. He now knew his past. He knew who he was.

That one fact which he didn't have for so many years, he now reclaimed. What had once been stolen from him belonged to him again. Ororo was changed too, not only because of the Nanny's gun but with the revelations of finding out about her alternate having a family with Logan.

That had been a revelation to her. Charles knew it frightened her. Her alternate had made a life with Logan. This man who treated her like she never mattered and never would. It was impossible for her to conceive that Logan would even see her as a person. For all these years she had been background to him. Logan had ignored her as he went on the hunt for the red headed doctor. Ororo had kept her distance.

She still wanted too. It was scary to her. The two of them together. She could never wrap her head around it. How could she. Logan had always been gruff and rough when he spoke to Ororo. It was as if he couldn't even tolerate her. His reaction was always so powerful to her like a whirlwind.

He never realized it was the beast yelling at him to recognize it's mate. He had never been so physical with Jean or any other women as he often was with Ororo. He had left bruises on her when she had tried to stop him from hunting Jean down. Right after he himself had awoken the Phoenix. It sobered him to learn that the beast knew what he wouldn't or couldn't see. It's mate was in front of him all the time.

It was going to be interesting watching his two grown children cope in the coming months. Ororo would no doubt fight any attraction she felt for Logan and Logan would without failure choose to ignore her objections to his attentions. The Wolverine would howl inside of him until he did what it demanded. Claim it's mate.

The two mutants of nature were going to be entertaining to watch.

Charles grinned it was going to be very interesting at the school now. Not only had he come back from his death but now he would see how two of his strongest team members would fight their own natures to avoid falling in love. It was going to be a battle worth watching.


	3. Chapter 3

Something Strange Something New Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or its characters. I own my only my characters. This is a work of fiction. I make no money from it. Enjoy and review.

Chapter 3

Charles smiled quietly watching as the rain, now ending, left the grass a deeper hue of blue green. The trees and the flowers shining from their strong but swift shower. He was enjoying the feel of cool air flowing in from his open windows. He inhaled the peppermint and vanilla scented flowers that Ororo had planted in his window box. They gave off scents so wonderful to breath in at any time of the day that he was grateful to have the Windrider in his home. He though this as he lingered watching the storm clouds disperse.

From what he'd seen from the day Logan was brought here, it was simply that Ororo could be his future and not Jean Grey as Logan had though. Ororo was the better choice due to her patience and good judgment in understanding people. Jean relied too heavily on her abilities for that and not her instincts. Both the Goddess and the Beast lived on their instincts.

The Wolverine and The Weatherwitch both judged people more by what they sensed about them rather then probing their minds. They used their natural instincts to seize up both enemies and friends. Something they had in common without even knowing it. Ororo often let her gut lead her about the people she encountered and Logan did the same. Sniffing out an enemy or a friend.

Charles heard his office door opening as Moira walked in pushing a large tray of tea and biscuits. He smiled. She always knew when he needed a good strong cup of tea and a lovely biscuit to go with it. Tomorrow was that day. He was going to set up a meeting with them both the next day. He would no doubt need more then tea when he was finished with those two. He smiled as Moira set up by his desk. Moira smiled softly as she pushed the tray by his chair and poured him a steaming cup.

Ororo was pacing her room's floor as she muttered some very unladylike things about her feral teammate. Her door was being knocked on. Ororo walked stiffly to it before opening it. She got a metallic scent in her nose. It was Peter.

"Good day Ororo. I am sorry to bother you but I have something I wish to discuss with you." Pete looked pensive as he stepped inside as Ororo waved him in. She bit back a grin.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Kitty would it?" Peter looked stunned then gulped.

"Da. I mean yes it would." Ororo folded her arms and sat on her bed. She eyed Peter before speaking.

"So where's the ring?" Peter nearly stammered out his question.

"How did you know that's what I'm here for?" Ororo smiled her blue eyes shining.

"Well you look nervous, your palms are sweaty, you never knock like that on my door, a series of quick frightened raps which tells me you're here without Kitty knowing it and the fact that a slip of paper that I see is the receipt from Suttons jewelry store is sticking out of the right hand pocket of your jeans." Peter slapped his face.

"I should have known you are always a step ahead." Ororo was grinning fighting the laughter in her eyes.

"Never mind that, show me the ring." Peter reached into his back pocket and pulled out the little black velvet box and opened it. Ororo oohed and aahed as she saw the most beautiful five-carat ring designed as a cupid's bow, one of Kitty's favorite things, inside the box. Her heart swelled.

"She will go ballistic when she sees this." Peter smiled shyly.

"That's what I am hoping for." Ororo hugged him as she gave her blessings. No matter that now he was older Peter still blushed as he left her room. Ororo sighed standing by her bed. Finally after four years of them going back and forth all while Kitten was growing up. Kitty was going to marry her Peter. Ororo sat at her desk. She needed to go over her lesson plan as she waited for the professor to make a decision on the boathouse.

Downstairs Professor Xavier sat in conference with Hank and Moira.

"Well what do you both feel I should do? Ororo is insisting that she be allowed to move out of the mansion because she can not get along with Logan. His attentions towards her are unnerving to her." Hank sat sipping some tea. He snorted lightly before speaking.

"I think our Wolverine's little jump into an alternate world has given him a whole new way of seeing our Ororo." Moira snickered as she bit into a biscuit eating slowly before commenting.

"I should say so, that and Ororo's new more voluptuous body doesn't hurt either. Didn't you all see the effect her new appearance is having on the male population at the school." Charles laughed.

"When Ororo first came here we all got used to her appearance, but Logan came after Ororo dramatically changed her appearance, so for him this is new. I did take notice of the fact that his mere presence keeps the other males at bay." Hank smirked.

"I take it our Goddess isn't too pleased with his new found attention." Charles grimaced.

"Thus the cause of my dilemma. Do I give my consent for Ororo to move out and break my heart or do I not allow it and cause her to be unhappy which would hurt me more to see her so?" Moira patted Charles' hand.

"I think you answered your own question Charles but perhaps I have a solution." Hank looked at Charles. Then both stared at Moira.

"Maybe Ororo should be allowed to move into the boathouse once it's fixed. On one condition. She must have a roommate due to it's distant location from the mansion." Hank choked as he sipped his tea. He wiped his mouth before speaking.

"Moira as a doctor and long time friend of our lovely Goddess let me say one thing to that. Ororo would never agree to it." Charles smiled.

"Perhaps she would if I put a spin on it. I know for a fact that Kitty will be very excited and happy tonight. She and Peter will ask their two closest friends to stand up with them." Both Hank and Moira grinned at each other.

"But I will make one request of these two good friends of theirs. They must co-exist for at least three months as roommates in the boathouse. I've already sent out two crews last week to start working on it. I ordered a pre-fab solar home with all the trimmings. It should take about another two days to three days to put up the new home. Now that the old one has been cleared away. This will get the ball rolling faster towards my goal. I feel that if they can work out their differences then they might just began to see their similarities and stop this distrust that's grown between them." Moira sighed before speaking.

"I think the mistrust is more on Ororo's part then Logan's." Charles interjected shaking his bald head.

"I beg to differ. Logan too has his trust issues. He was weary for years of having a family, falling in love and allowing himself to know that kind of joy. It wasn't until he saw what he could have that the seed was planted in him. The return of his long lost past has also thrown him for a loop. He never suspected he would have or could have a family and his past finally resolved." Hank grunted enjoying one of Moira's good biscuits.

"I would agree. This Rose figure from his past was so cross mixed with Jean's image that he was confusing our Jean with his Rose." Moira sipped her tea slowly.

"Yes Logan no doubt transferred his affections to Jean based solely on her appearance being so similar to Rose. Not too mention his lost love with the young Japanese woman named Mariko. He lost her too to death as well. It must have come as quite a shock to him when the other professor relayed his past to him." Charles sat back after hearing Moira speak.

"Indeed and the most amazing part is that my contacts have been able to confirm that Logan is indeed James Howlett a man over two and a half centuries old. Along with his half brother Victor Creed. Seems he and Logan share the same father but different mothers as well as a healing factor. Logan's aristocratic mother had an affair with Victor's laborer father and gave birth to Logan whom she passed off as her husband's son." Charles continued.

"The whole sorted affair came to a head when young James was a preteen just on the cusp of his mutation taking hold and in some dire argument one night it lead to his murdering his biological father who in fact had just murdered the man Logan believed to have been his father for most of his life. I won't even go into the tale of his dead love Mariko. The tale is long and winding and in the report that I sent to you both." Hank nodded. His face looking sad.

"What a life Logan has lead. From country to country around the world and back several times before and after Stryker." Charles grimaced.

"Let us hope we never see or hear that name ever again. Pure twisted evil motived that man. He had no honor, nor love for his wife, his son or humanity as a whole. I never knew of a human who had more in common with Magneto than William Stryker." Hank snorted.

"Oh I think Magneto had more affection in his heart Charles. When ever he was squeezing the life out of a human for getting in the way of his grand scheme. I believe he felt something for humanity" Moira shuttered.

"Can we please change the subject? The sun's back out and I really want to talk on much lighter topics like Peter and Kitty's pending engagement." Hank Laughed setting down his tea cup.

"This school knows everyone's secrets better then my favorite soap opera." Moira glared at him. Hank looked put out.

"What? It gets boring down in the lab after lunch hour." Charles started laughing.

Logan was on a mission. He'd gone through several scenarios in the danger room after his short rest in his room. Now he was a snarling wet and smelly mess. He shut down the room's program. His sixth one after five hours and headed towards the showers. After showering he decided he needed the sauna across the hall. Logan opened the door and was stunned to see Peter inside.

"Hey." He grunted at the younger man. Peter looked up a half smile on his face but Logan smelled fear, anxiety and nerves rolling off him.

"So ya popping the question tonight uhh." Peter's brows narrowed.

"Does everyone know everything in this place?" Logan grinned as he sat back against the hot and steaming wall bench.

"Yep." Logan gave his patented one word answer.

"I thought a steam would help my nerves but I'm still in knots. I just want to be able to propose without messing up." Logan grinned.

"Kitten's so crazy about you even if ya messed up ten times each time her answers gonna be yes." Peter grinned as Logan laughed.

"Just know one thing, be good to her. That kid loves ya." Peter stood up smiling.

"Da, this I know. I think I knew it from the moment we met. She was always very special to me." Logan grinned.

"Like ya gotta tell me. Go on, go practice for tonight." Peter smiled as he left the steam room. Leaving Logan to lie down and turn up more steam.

Ororo woke up the next morning after eating a light breakfast. She found herself in her loft watching Geri and Lizzie playing on the back lawn with Marie and Jubes. All of them looked happy and healthy enjoying another sunny day. At least that's what Ororo hoped for. She artfully looked around her balcony for the Wolverine. Praying he would make no surprise appearances today.

She was pleased he had been nowhere in sight for the last few days wasn't she? That's what she wanted. Right? No Logan was good for her. She didn't feel anything for him. Ororo felt her stomach lurch as she sat back on her chair and drank more tea. She had to stop thinking about the strange look in this Logan's and that alternates eyes. That faint glow unnerved her. There was something odd about it? Almost familiar.

Logan was on his bike. The professor had awakened him this morning stating that he wanted a meeting with him after lunch today. After Logan had finished his steam last night, he'd gone to the garage and started working on fixing the various cars and vans that the school had. Whatever needed to be fixed he'd done the bulk of the work last night. Logan never really functioned on much sleep so the busy hands thing kept him sane. Especially since the session with wheels had really upset him.

He kept thinking back to his reaction to Jean and how she was after she'd lost her mental blocks. He really hadn't felt the same about her. She was different to him and just a more shallow version of an idea he had about her in his mind. She wasn't ever what he really wanted.

She wasn't Rose and never could be. She didn't look as attractive to him as well. Her face had been hard to him and her eyes were cold. She was not the Jean that he remembered. The entity was a pure deviant. Nothing like the Jean Grey they all had known. That last kiss he'd given her before she died had left him unmoved. It gave him no satisfaction of having been the last kiss she would ever give.

He'd realized at that moment that he never really loved Jean and never would. That cold empty feeling from the kiss, had stayed with him long after she was laid to rest. It had shocked him like a bubble that burst. Jean was not what he though he'd been looking for. He'd spend nights seated by her headstone trying to figure out what he did feel. He was so closed off to anyone and everyone around him, that he never noticed how distant he had made himself from Ororo, the students and the school.

The notes that she would leave on his bike and door didn't even faze him as he had been fighting the dread that was overtaking him every time he though of Jean. Her death had left him empty. He was in shock as to why he couldn't feel what he once had for her. That final kiss was as cold as death and just as hollow. It felt empty.

It had tore up his insides as he had tried to understand what the hell was going on with him. The beast inside kept giving him hell as well. The damn thing flared up every time he and Ro got into it. It wasn't until his session with Charles that he realized why. Chuck knew his shit. Logan was struck dumb by his words. The Wolverine had known who it's mate was all the time. It was leading Logan to her.

Logan rode on down the road right to Harry's. He had been riding for a few hours, just killing time. Trying to clear his head. It was just hitting the lunch hour. He figured he'd give Ro space. Hell she hated him. He made it to Harry's and sat at the bar.

He pulled out the little photo that he'd shown her. The faces so happy just made him more aware of how empty he felt. He knew his past now but he had no future.

Harry placed a large ale fresh off the tap in front of him. Logan never had to order any more. Harry knew the feral man like the back of his own hand. Logan placed the photo back into his breast pocket of his jacket and drank down the cool ale. He had about two hours to kill before the meeting with Wheels.

Ororo sat at the large lunch table in the kitchen as the rest of the group of mutants and humans had already gone off after lunch to enjoy the rest of the day. Everyone had given their congratulations to Kitty and Peter. They were both beaming as every female gushed over Kitty's ring and every male smacked Peter on his large back.

Both were happy and very much in love. Ororo even noted the wistful look on Geri's face. That got a whisper from Moira that Geri had never been on a real date. Moira said it was due to her being labeled a geek by her former colleagues at the university she did her internship at. She was sweet but not enough to get asked out. Geri had spent her time at the university in Scotland mostly in the lab or the library.

The male population barely acknowledged her presence. Moira had whispered that Geri usually had sat alone at lunch hour eating her food in the lab and making friends with the lab mice. She seldom hung out with girls her own age. Instead she was always at the children's hospital giving her time and services to assist whenever she had the time. She was a natural with children. They flocked to her despite the awkward look of her appearance.

Ororo had been stunned at first but then noted how Geri had her strawberry blonde curly hair in the strangest of twisted ponytails. Pinned rather strangely to the back of her head. Her hair had an odd appearance. It was almost as if it were never combed. It was a very tight wound curly thick mane of strawberry blond hair that just needed attention. It was then that Ro noted how her glasses were too big for her face. The coke bottle sized rims took much away from her natural beauty.

Geri could be stunning Ororo thought. She had the most amazing hazel green eyes and a Clara Bow mouth. Her skin was a light tannish hue like she was kissed by the sun. Her smile which she wore a lot was dazzling. She was to many people very attractive. She just seemed to be hiding it under a rather dumpy and old way of dressing.

Her clothes were a bite larger on her body then necessary. It looked as if she were trying to hide her shape. Her lab coat seemed to be a staple on her. Ororo looked down at her feet. She actually wore granny shoes. Ororo had to look twice. Ones built for comfort and nothing else. Geri did not dress like a young woman in her early twenties. She looked older in dress then Moira. She was stunned speechless.

Moira sighed as Ororo looked hard at Geri, inside was a very attractive young woman who just needed a little help. Geri could be quite beautiful. Then Hank ran in stating something but he was talking too fast. He made no sense to anyone.

But the professor had looked startled for a moment. His face almost shocked. It lasted a brief moment. Then the professor ordered Warren, Bobby, Peter, Rouge and Hank to go to the X-jet. They needed to get to Alkali Lake. For one brief moment Ororo had tensed up but Charles sent a mental link out assuring all that it had nothing to do with Jean.

What it did have to do with he wouldn't say until they had all returned. Ororo sat still enjoying the calm in the house as she listened to the children playing outside and sipped more of her green tea. She was a little relieved that she hadn't seen Logan all day. After the blow up in the greenhouse she was still upset about his sudden interest in her.

Really it just irked her nerves. All those years and not once was she ever treated like she was visible to his eyes. She didn't hate Jean. Logan had fallen in love with her. She just felt like she was a bother to him that he had to deal with when things got rough. It was unsettling to be the other X-woman that no one notices unless they're trying to kill you. Ororo was sick of being the least acknowledged. She put her tea down and stared up at the sky.

Things were better in Africa. She may have been seen as a Goddess but they knew she was there. They acknowledged her. It felt good to have people actually know you were alive and who really paid you some attention and liked you. Even if you knew why they liked you, you still felt there happiness that you could and did help them. Ororo missed that at times. True she had been somewhat lonely at times. But she always felt the love and admiration of the many people in her mother's village that she helped.

The children at the school did that for her too. They always were quick to acknowledge her for aiding them. But with her fellow teammates it wasn't the same. Hank had always been her cheerleader. Ororo knew he had harbored a crush on her for years. He never acted on it. His change into fur prevented Henry from pursuing her. He was more ashamed of his appearance back then then anyone else.

Scott had always loved Jean. Kurt had a small crush but his shyness would never allow him to go beyond that. Then came Logan. He never even acknowledged Ororo unless she tried to reason with him. Then he usually got physical. That time he slammed her against the wall. He had left bruises on her upper arms. That had shaken her up. She recalled seeing that strange glow in his eyes back then too. That was weird. No doubt some side effect of his mutation.

He always ignored her advice. He'd just run off on his endless pursuit of Jean. Until the end when he had to kill her. That was the worse day for them all. So many people died. The shock was wore by all those who came home that day. It took weeks before many could speak of it. Hank had come through. Setting up consulting services for those who needed it. They all did except one. Logan stirred clear of them all. He stuck around but was so distance even Marie had a hard time trying to reach him. Her powers had returned and it took him a week to notice the trauma she was going though.

Ororo had to step in of course. Thank God she had Remy coming to help out. He and Marie clicked like two peas in a pod. Hank had invented an inhibitor for Kurt to make his appearance more human to others and made one that could suppress Marie's powers so that now she could still have a normal life.

She and Bobby broke up after the death of Jean. He though he wanted Kitty, only to find out she wanted Peter who felt the same. Bobby lost Marie and Kitty. But he bounced back with the consulting services Hank had set up. Now he had a on and off relationship with one of the day teachers. A non-mutant who seemed to mesh well with him.

It helped a great deal when his parents left the states. They moved to France hoping to aid their non-mutant son who still held a great dislike for Bobby. The once golden boy to his parents eyes. That had been rough but Ororo and the others were there to support him. Logan wasn't available for any of it.  
Logan noticed none of this. He stayed in the garage, or went to Harry's. If he went off for two days, he was back on the third day. And every night he sat at Jean's headstone and moped. The only thing that was constant with him was his nightly stay at her grave site.

Ororo stayed clear of him. She had tried in the beginning to reach out. He just pushed her aside or ignored her. Hank kept telling her to try harder. He growled at her sixth and last attempt. She gave up after that. She left him notes and that was it. No phone calls or speaking to him. He didn't like her. He had made that plain.

There was no point in her trying to get him to work with her at the school. He did what he wanted and when he wanted. He didn't want to teach a class or aid the students. Ororo, Hank and even Remy, Peter and Kitty worked out interviews with new teachers. Set up class schedules and worked on getting bills paid and parent teacher conferences set up. Daily life for Logan was beer, cigars, his bike, Harry's and Jeans' grave.

Being alone to Logan was natural for him. He lived to avoid getting close to those he wanted nothing to do with. Ororo just figured she was on the top of that list. Now after his little alternate world trip. She was his new obsession. That was the biggest kick in her pants.

She the woman who was a broom closet while everyone else was a luxury suite. Life was ironic at best. This other Ororo was younger looking from what she saw in the photo. The weirdest thing was Ororo now looked like her thanks to the Nanny. She shivered as a cool breeze run through her. That was strange. The day was fairly warm. Ororo shrugged. She just though it was a joke. A cosmic joke that Logan of all people now wanted to see her as a woman he wanted. That was a cruel joke at best.

She did see in the photo how happy they had both looked. Those children were beautiful. The smiles a mile wide. That could never be her and Logan. They never felt that way about one another. Why would they now? Jean maybe dead but Logan couldn't just dismiss what he felt for her.

Ororo couldn't just forget how he treated her for so long. She sat back and stared at the clouds moving across the sky. Why should she care for Logan? He just was reacting to what he saw on the other world. It wasn't his world so why should she care? Ororo rubbed her head. She felt a headache coming on.

He'd been gone all morning too she noticed. Bobby had been looking for him to see if Logan would help him fix his bike. No one had seen him. Why should that bother Ororo? He didn't care if he took off and left everyone high and dry. Even if the professor was back.

Then she got worried because she feared he might have gone off again for an extended leave. Something he did whenever he felt troubled. Why that bothered her she couldn't say. She just knew it would upset the peace they had all found recently with Charles' return. She didn't want anything to detract from that.

But Moira had told her Logan now had his past in detail. He no longer had to wonder who he was or what he had done. She wondered if maybe he would leave for good now. He no longer needed Charles to help him find his past. He knew Marie had grown up.

Now she was involved with Remy. Even Jubilee was apart of the school now. Logan really had no ties to stay among them. She often wondered why he had stayed after Jean's death the second time. She had often waited to wake up back then to find he had fled the school for good. But each day he was there. Just going to his bars and returning when he did leave. Ororo grunted. He no doubt had no where to go.

Hank was in shock as he left the blackbird having Peter push the stretcher that held their miracle. Bobby and Rouge looked stunned as Warren looked quiet and nervous. Everyone of them was too quiet and shocked to speak. They had done their jobs so fast and quick that the only one who had spoken had been an astounded Rouge who yelled a "Shit!" when they had uncovered the buried body. Now no one could speak. All lost in the strange events that had been happening to the Xavier residents of late.

The Professor was already in the med lab when they arrived. He watched as Geri and Hank placed IV's into the arms of Scott Summers. Moira was hooking up the computer to him. He was thinner, covered in dirt and tattered pieces of clothing. He had more hair on him then a caveman. Hank stared at Charles who nodded.

"I'll explain all tonight at a staff meeting. Just let Geri and Moira assist you with him for now." With that Charles Xavier wheeled himself out of the med lab and headed for his office. He still had a meeting with Logan in ten minutes.

Ororo was out on the lawn. She had just finished refereeing a game of lawn tennis with some of the youngest students when she stumbled into a confused looking Warren.

"Oh, sorry Warren I didn't see you." Warren looked at her quickly then looked away as he answered her.

"No problem. No harm done." Ororo thought his behavior was strange and wanted to ask him what was wrong when he took off at a run as he spotted Betsey. He quickly grabbed her as she hugged him back looking into his eyes. She looked confused at her boyfriends' behavior as well. Ororo watched them for a while then shrugged and went inside. She got a message from the professor to come to his office.

Ororo rushed upstairs to clean herself up before she walked to the office. When she opened the door, Charles was seated at his desk smiling. Ororo entered and smiled back until she spotted Logan. Her good mood was gone. She sat in a chair as far away from Logan as she could get.

Ororo's mood wasn't lost on Logan. He'd smelled her change the minute she'd locked her eyes on his. She was pissed and judging by the way she moved her chair so far to the distance wall, he knew she wanted him to know how much she didn't like him.

Logan snarled. It was like payback for all the times he did ignore her for Jean. Treating the Goddess like she didn't matter at all. Just Jean, who wasn't what he though she was and never would or could be. She was not Rose. Logan had tried to make her Rose's replacement. That was no fault of Jean's. Logan felt like he was choking on a bitter pill.

Charles sat watching them both. Ororo's body language screamed 'Keep away!' but her thoughts were, 'Why was Logan here?' and 'Where had he been all day?' Logan's body displayed an 'I don't care' pose but he was thinking how upset he was that Ororo didn't seem to like him.

On a primitive level the Wolverine was upset because it's potential mate was possibly rejecting him. Charles placed his hands in front of him almost as if he were praying and stared at them both.

Logan had been staring hard at Ororo who was trying to pretend she didn't see him and fighting not to look in his direction. Charles cleared his throat and got them both to look at him instead.

"I've called you both into this meeting because we have a problem at this school with the two of you." Ororo looked uncomfortable. Logan just looked mad.

"I realize that we have had some amazing things occur here and perhaps that has led to the problem you both have with one another. But today we have something even more amazing that has happened…" Two sets of eyes stared at Charles waiting for him to finish.

"Your teammate has returned. Scott Summers is in the med lab…" Before he was finished Ororo was out the door running down towards the stairwell to the med lab. Logan just stared at Charles.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to us about?" Charles gave a half smile.

"No not really but that can wait until Scott is better for now." Logan grunted as he got up and left the room.

He took his time getting to the med lab where Hank, Geri and Moira were still working on Scott. They were adjusting feeding tubes and oxygen into a sleeping bearded and gaunt looking Scott Summers. But he was cleaner now and less hairy. Ororo was by Hank's side as he filled her in on how the sensors that he had left at the lake went off this morning causing him to key in on them. They were capturing the image of a lump in a huge overgrowth on the shoreline. The lump had given off readings that matched Scott's DNA profile.

Hank couldn't speak without it coming out sounding crazy so he'd sent a mental notification to Charles. Who sent the team out to search for him. From what he could piece together the power Jean used to cause Scott to be erased into the atmosphere wore off to the effect that Scott's molecules reconstructed. Leaving him in a hibernated state. His body, needing months to truly form back into Scott completely, had placed him into a coma. There he laid for months as his body reformed along with his clothes. Hank was in shock that he was alive.

Scott's regular goggles were in his former room still clean and shiny because Ororo had kept up the rooms of all her fallen teammates and family. Hank had a smaller pair now resting on his sleeping face. Logan said nothing but was listening.

Geri nearly fell into a cart of surgical instruments but Logan caught her and swiftly sat her in a chair with a shaken and breathless Geri thanking him. Moira came over to tell her she should go upstairs now and see about the children since Scott was stable now.

Hank explained that if the sensors hadn't gone off when they did, two more days and the extremely thin and emaciated Scott Summers would have died in that mound of dirt, grass and forest that his sleeping form was under. Logan made a comment so softly Hank nearly didn't hear him.

"Like King Arthur uhh?" Hank nodded his head.

"Similar I would say Logan, only no magic was involved in Scott's resurrection. This is all science no matter how strange it is, even to me." Hank muttered the last part taking notes on his I-pad. He read the machines hooked up to Scott. Moira spoke to both Logan and Ororo.

"He's going to be out for some time. I really don't think he'll awaken for a couple of days." Hank looked up from his writing.

"Moira's right, no need to wait around here. Scott is going to be out until we get his body back to where he needs to be in order to function. Right now he's suffering from dehydration, malnutrition and severe exposure. I don't believe he'll be opening his eyes for several days." Ororo nodded her head. She left still ignoring Logan. He just waited until after she left then went out of the basement in the opposite direction headed for the far end of the mansion. Moira looked at Hank who stared after the two.

"Stubborn as mules the two of them." He adjusted his glasses as he spoke. Moira snorted.

"It's hard when you fall in love Hank. Harder still trying to deny it." Hank did a double take.

"You think those two are in love?" Moira grinned shaking her head.

"What do you think is their problem Doctor?" Hank looked down at Scott's readings as he spoke.

"I just chalked it up to lust." Moira raised an eyebrow.

"I know that's usually where it starts. But for those two love is where it will end up that is if either one of them gives up first." Hank smirked as he tapped out some information on his I-pad.

"My money is not on Logan?" Moira laughed at Hank's deadpan statement.

"Pride goeth before a fall. Logan is most definitely afraid of falling but so is our Ororo she's been burned once and runs from it." Hank shook his furry head.

"This I know to be true. How do we get those two together?" Moira smiled as she looked at a sleeping Scott.

"I think good doctor, that we should leave that up to Charles. He seems to have a knack for making things happen." Hank grinned and shook his head as both went back to working on their sleeping patient.

Kitty, Marie, Jubilee, Bobby and Peter were sitting on the back lawn watching Ororo wander off to her greenhouse, locking the door. Logan went off on the far side of the estate to the deep part of the large wooded area. Marie turned from watching Logan to Kitty and stated.

"Does that look like love to you? I don't see it. It seems more like they hate each other and Logan is a loner." Jubilee laughed.

"Really. Then why did he bring me here and act like this is home to him? Hey really he does more then act like it. Every time he went away all he did was come back here and if this wasn't home why would he keep returning?" The rest nodded in agreement as Kitty spoke up.

"Well from what I heard…" Bobby smirked.

"You mean from what you got off of hacking into the professor's computer." Peter eyed Kitty who smiled sweetly at him.

"As I was saying.. On the professor's computer in his file on Logan it seems that when he went to this alternate world he found out that he has a past in fact he now knows all of his past life. The professor was even able to confirm his past life for him. Logan is over two hundred years old." Jubilee laughed.

"That old and he still doesn't know how to get a woman." Bobby glared at her. Peter spoke.

"It is not that simple. Logan and Ororo love one another but I think for Ororo the ghost of Dr. Grey is always there. Now with the return of Mr. Summers that just confirms it. And with Logan his new found knowledge of the past has made him see what he though was love for Dr. Grey well maybe it wasn't." Marie sighed.

"Well suge if it's that simple why can't they get together?" Remy walked over to the group still having his right hand wrapped up as Rouge helped him to sit down on the lawn with them.

"Well what old Gambit can see, both of these two are just stubborn. My Stormy don't want to get hurt because she think he only like her now cause of the other one on the other world and how she look now. He think she don't want him cause of that and Jean as well. Both don't know how to talk to one another and get it right without fighting. They have the tension…as the English call it. Sexual tension that right. These two are people who want the same thing but they afraid of it."

Remy then went on trying to roll his cigarette one handed having to have Marie assist him. Jubilee just popped her gum as the group sat around thinking how to get them to talk. Unseen by them all professor Xavier sat at the back patio and had heard the whole thing.

He pulled out his cell phone and answered the call before the first ring. It was the foreman of the crews he had working on the replacing old boathouse.

"Excellent Mr. Penny as I stated before I would like for the house to be ready as soon as possible. Yes money is no object. Two days you say? Wonderful. Thank you, good day." The professor smiled as Moira came upstairs to see him.

"Oh there you are Charles. We have Scott stabilized now and hopefully in a few days now that his levels are higher he'll regain consciousness." Xavier smiled.

"Wonderful."

Ororo Munroe sat in her greenhouse and started planting. She would not cry. She had to control the need to fall down on her knees and cry and all because her brother was back. Scott was alive by some miracle and she wasn't going to question it. So she was on her knees again and planting more plants and flowers. By the time she was through the greenhouse was nearly overflowing with growing plants and flowers. Even the vegetable garden was nearly bursting.

Ororo was over come. The emotions running through her were powerful. She felt joy and sadness. Scott was back, but without his Jean. What was going to happen when he realized she was no longer with them. How was Scott going to cope? Ororo sank lower onto the ground and wiped her now sweaty brow. How was she going to cope? Family that she though was gone to her forever was now back from the dead. This was a staggering ride the entire estate had been on. First Charles and now Scott. Ororo had to calm her breathing.

This was a lot to deal with. Even the look on Hank's face had been a dazed and yet determined exterior that he only wore when he was in doctor mode. Henry no doubt felt what Ororo was feeling. Was this all a dream? If so what happens when they wake up? Ororo shook her now loose hair. She needed a bath and a long lay down. Today was truly unbelievable to her. The entire school would be in a shocked daze for a while after the past month.

Xavier watched from his bedroom's balcony and pulled out his cell phone.

"Good evening Mr. Penny. So sorry to bother you but I need your crews to work on another project once they've finished the boathouse. Yes another one, yes just as before money is no object. This one.. no not a house of a sort I suppose it is. It's a greenhouse that I need you to expand it for me. Yes this one is located right behind the school itself. How much expansion? We'll discuss that in two days I suppose..ohh one day now, excellent. I look forward to seeing you then. Goodnight."

Charles Xavier ended his phone call. He chuckled. It always astounded him how the words 'Money is no object.' Got things done faster then you ever imagined. Now that the boathouse would be ready, in two days time he would have that talk with Ororo and Logan.

Two days later morning came fast for one member of the X-men. It was still dark outside. The sun was slow to awaken. In the darkened kitchen Logan was seated. He didn't need any light to find his way to his hidden beer. He'd just finished off his third beer and was thinking of what he could do again today to avoid a certain weather witch. She hated him and he knew it.

So the best way to live in this place was to avoid her at all costs and he was. Scooter's coming back from the dead had her in her greenhouse and on the grounds planting like a fanatic. She was pruning, planting, trimming, raking and even mowing. Something Peter usually did. He knew why. Scotty-boy's return from the dead had her all confused and stunned past anything she could ever have imagined.

The whole school was the same way. Even the students seemed like they were all on pins and needles. Marie was antsy, Jubs was consuming sugar treats like an addict and Kitty was attached to Pete's hip. Bobby was too damn quiet and the whole of the school itself felt like everyone was on automatic pilot. Everyone doing their jobs like they were too afraid to speak.

Logan drank more beer. It was one hell of a surprise. Chuck had been a relief too have back. Scotty he was unsure about. How was he gonna take knowing Logan had killed Jean. That conversation he really didn't want to have. He finished off his third and tossed the can in the recycling bin. The sun was up now.

He could hear some members of the school up and in their showers. He smelled Hank's personal coffee maker down in the labs. The smell of his ground Nigerian coffee beans wafted up the long stairwell of the basement. He heard Warren and Betsey as they went about getting the youngest children up from their beds. He stood up and popped his neck.

He didn't know why Chuck wanted to talk to both him and Ororo. She sure as hell didn't want to be in the same room as Logan. He figured Chuck was up to something. What was the thing bugging Logan. Ororo looked like she wanted to hide if he stared at her too hard. He had to leave the grounds or avoid being too near her to stop from staring at her. His beast was aching for him to act. That was a problem.

All those years with him chasing Jean and that never was a problem. His want for the redhead had been all him. The Logan who didn't know he was James Howlett trying to bring back his Rose. Damn if Jean had been alive when he found this all out what the hell would she had said. "I was just a substitute for a dead woman from over two centauries ago." She no doubt would have ranted at him longer then Ro did.

He though about the things she had said. He couldn't find fault with any of it. She was right. He was selfish and insecure. He had learned to be the way he was to survive. It kept people from hurting him. He hated being hurt so the gruff exterior masked all the pain he felt inside. Pushing people away kept them far from him. That way he couldn't hurt them and they couldn't hurt him. It worked for all these years until now.

He hated himself for hurting Ro. He hated himself for shutting down when Marie, Jubilee, Kitty, Bobby and the all the others needed him. Chuck knew. He knew that day in the office when tears had steamed down his eyes as he brought out all the pain he felt. The loneliness of his life was killing him. He wanted what everyman could have. A family and someone who loved him. Logan was just a man beneath the claws and the metal bones.

How the help he was ever gonna tell this to Ororo, he had no idea. He kept thinking about what the other Chuck had told him about the relationship between the other Ororo and Logan. Those two clicked from day one. Logan had even broken the ice after his odd purr towards Ro with a joke that made her laugh. He kept telling her jokes and talking to her about everything. He made his intentions clear by paying her attention and treating her like she was all that mattered. Like any normal man would.

Logan plucked another beer. He knew about as much as to how a normal man acted as he did being a boy scout. He was royally screwed. No matter how feral the other Logan was. He was never made into weapon X. He had never lost his memories. He had killed the one bastard that helped to ruin his life. Stryker. Logan was going to have to talk to Chuck more. He needed some help.

He heard more commotion from upstairs. The rugrats would be coming down and the time to start breakfast was approaching. He downed the last beer and chucked the can in the bin. He was heading for the hall but stopped midstride.

He smelled the air. Fresh rain. He turned around and headed for his bike as Xavier called him to his office. For two days Logan had made himself scarce He knew to avoid Ororo and everybody else while his mind was fighting him to stay put. Harry had even raised an eyebrow at seeing him there for the last two days.

Logan grunted and took the long way around the mansion to the front door. All to avoid seeing Ororo. He walked the distance to Xavier's office only to open the door and see Storm. She was seated across from the professor and looking at him then back at Charles with wide blue eyes.

She was more surprised then he was. Logan knew he didn't like this. Early morning meeting with them both. Not good. Charles just looked at them both and inclined his head for Logan to close the door. He sat behind his desk this early in the morning looking like some five hundred year old sage who held the answers to the universe.


	4. Chapter 4

Something Strange Something New

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or its characters. I own my only my characters. This is a work of fiction. I make no money from it. Enjoy and review.

Chapter 4

Ororo was livid and didn't want to speak to Xavier much less look at him. She was so angry she barely spoke to anyone at all. Peter and Kitten were in her room helping her carry down some of her things that she would need for the next three months. Logan she noted had looked stunned. Maybe even shell shocked. Just by the way his face had contorted before her very eyes as she had fled the office. That was over six and a half hours ago. The last thing she overheard was Logan asking Charles.

"Did you lose your mind while you were dead?"

Ororo wondered the same thing as she wiped away tears of anger. She had fought to keep the weather calm as silent tears fell. She noted the solemn looks that crossed the faces of the students as they loaded the pickup truck. Peter and Kitty placed the last of her trunks in the back. Peter helped Ororo take the seat between them as Geri, Marie along with Jubilee and other students watched them drive off towards the new boathouse.

Logan had already gone on to Harry's since he had only one bag and wanted Remy to allow him a couple of stiff ones. Right after Charles had laid down the law for the two of them and their behavior towards one another. Logan took off. He had Remy in tow. Ororo still couldn't believe that for next three months she and Logan were to reside together at the boathouse as roommates.

The whole idea was insane to her. Charles wanted them to try and get along. To better serve as an example to the students that problems could be worked out. Worked out? Between her and Logan? Was he on an alternate world as well. Ororo thought he was mad. Logan did also apparently. His face had dropped.

His racing out of the mansion with Remy in his truck proved that he too thought Charles had gone mad. Maybe it was the brain dead twin instead? Ororo didn't know and she didn't care at this point. This was madness. This was therapy taken to a level even Ororo didn't want.

She didn't want to be alone in a house with Logan. It was bad enough in the mansion. He always got the drop on her. It rattled her nerves when he did that. The dumbass. But Charles wanted this. He insisted upon it. He wanted results. They had to keep a log of their interactions that had to show progress in their strained relationship as teammates. There had to be a communication between the two. The professor kept saying nothing can be resolved if you don't speak. Ororo had to roll her eyes. He was serious.

Xavier had insisted that at least once a week they had to sit down for one hour and talk without shouting, fighting or storming off. Then write down a daily progress report of how they were getting along. Then each month for the three months Hank and he would show up to have a two-hour session with them to see how things were going. Ororo had nearly died.

Both Logan and Ororo had stared at Charles as if he were mad. The whole idea was crazy. The two of them confined to a house alone together. No way. It could not be allowed to ever happen. Ororo had started to protest as Logan did but one mental command and both were rendered speechless by Xavier. Whose whole demeanor had turned dark and angry in an instant. He had stated that if neither of them did what he was ordering them to do they would have to leave the X-men forever.

That had made them both see he was very serious. Ororo knew Charles was doing this as a last resort and that the decision was not an easy one so she was going to suck it in and survive this. But as Kitty and Peter hugged her and left in the pick up truck headed back towards the mansion dread hit her.

Ororo felt like she did when she had left Cairo as a child. She was barely ten back then but the feeling was still fresh in her mind. She had gotten off a plane in this country. She found herself looking around at an airport teaming with people. There were families everywhere.

People greeting one another. Happy smiling faces. Ororo had watched them all as she silently went through the terminal and all she felt was very much alone.

Logan was seated in Harry's downing one beer after another. Remy sat beside him, still with his hand wrapped. He was watching as Logan tried to drown his uneasiness in beer. Finally Remy had enough.

"Ya gonna feel that even with ya healing factor homie." Logan glared at him. Never stopping his drinking.

"You talking Cajun? I hear you can put away more then me but you ain't got a healing factor." Logan went on to another beer as he motioned for Harry to keep them coming. Remy smirked.

"I know my Stormy scares you Logan but I always thought the great Wolverine could face anything, even a little woman like my Stormy." Logan only grunted before he spoke.

"Well you ain't had the pleasure of having your Stormy give you looks that just tell ya to drop off the face of the earth and she means it." Remy laughed out loud. That caused Logan to glare at him.

"Mon dieu homie. We got a lot to talk about. I never tell you about the time Stormy tried to fry me when I first met her in New Orleans or the time she did shoot me out of one of her tornadoes because I did something she no like. Logan order Remy a drink. We gonna be here all night." Logan looked at Remy like the river rat was nuts but signaled for Harry to line up a bottle for him.

By the time Logan was dropped off at the boathouse, it wasn't by Remy, and it was near daybreak. Harry had to call the mansion. Peter had to drive both men to their places of residence. Thanks to Logan's healing factor being stalled by his non-stop drink fest with a very drunk Remy. Neither man was in any shape to drive.

Harry was stumped when the normally stoned faced Logan had ordered eight bottles of his best stuff to be lined up on the counter with six shot glasses. He wanted each bottle poured until they were emptied. Harry was flabbergasted by the request. Logan never drank like that. Even after the deaths at the school.

Usually he drank but would sit until he sobered up enough to drive. His sobering never took too long so long as he cut out the drinking for a while. But tonight he'd gone damn near feral when Harry wanted to stop him. He drank down ten bottles of Harry's best imported whiskey. That had set the alarm bells ringing in Harry's head. He was on the phone fast when the two very drunk men wanted to leave. He had managed to swipe the trucks keys before the two realized they were missing.

That gave him time for the big Russian guy to come get them. He was coming back later tomorrow for the other truck no doubt with that young blond fellow who always looked like he was thinking. That Kid looked like ice wouldn't melt on his head. The Russian guy had to carry them both out of the now empty bar. Neither one could walk much less stand correctly from the drink fest. That left poor Remy to have to deal with a very tired and angry Rouge who was waiting for her wayward boyfriend with Kitty standing by her side.

Ororo was fast asleep. She didn't even hear Logan or Peter as he carried the three hundred pound dead weight and dumped him in his bed. Thanks to Ororo's bedroom being the top floor master. It was as quiet as the grave to her. Logan's room was on the second floor and another master. She never heard a sound. Sleeping peacefully in her room.

Charles had ordered a house that came with three stories. It was a three bedroom three and a half bath home. It shocked Ororo when she went exploring the home to find out how beautiful and nice it was. Very modern but comfortable. The home came with two master bedrooms. One on the second floor and one on the third. The guest room also sat on the second floor. Peter and Kitty had been with Ro when she had picked the third floor room.

She had fallen in love with the balcony and skylight. Her balcony boasted a large area with table and chairs. She even had a lounge chair to relax in. She loved it. Ororo had immediately placed several large potted trees out as well. Even filling her room with plants also. The entire home was nice. It had been made with green products and had solar panels and wind turbines. Ororo was impressed. She liked the bamboo floors and doors. The brightness of the home felt like the outdoors.

Peter made a point of placing her plants where she wanted them. Kitty thought the white sheer curtains looked like what Ororo would have picked out. The shades were sun blockers but were made from recycled material. Even the walk in fridge worked on natural air flow from an outside air vent. Ororo was amazed and very pleased. Charles had gone all out.

The home would be perfect except for the fact that she had to share it with Logan. Still it was stunning. A home anyone would want. It reeked of a perfect place for a family needing one. The house even sat like it was waiting for a family. That's when Ororo remembered it was supposed to be a home for Jean and Scott.

Years ago the two had spoken about remodeling the boathouse and living there. They had planned on getting married. All this was before Logan of course. He had come into their little bubble of love like a big bad pinhead. Popping the happy twosome into fighting him off. Jean had been confused but flattered by Logan's attentions. Scott wasn't.

Never would Jean understand what she meant to him or really who she remained him of. Her face, her hair, her eyes were all Rose to Logan. Ro didn't know that. She just knew he meddled in her friend's happiness. Ororo shook her head. That past was gone. No Jean now just Scott. All alone now.

The professor had informed her that she could still see Scott but the visits had to be logged. Once Scott improved upon his awakening then he would be allowed to visit Ororo at the boathouse with an escort. Charles was still leery of how Scott would react to Logan once he learned of how Jean had to die. Ororo wasn't looking forward to that either.

She was pleased that each floor had balconies and happy that her view of the lake was so amazing. The air was wonderful and the feeling of peace that floated her senses amazed her as she breathed in the view. In fact Ororo had made herself a small dinner since Logan was nowhere in sight. After a long bath she had gone to bed. She was delighted that Charles had the walk in fridge stuffed with food. Many were her favorite dishes.

She didn't hear Peter as he put Logan to bed and left the house. She wasn't aware of Logan until she awoke that morning and heard his loud snores as she passed the second floor landing. The sounds were deafening coming from his room. He was loud and no doubt reliving some nightmare from his past. Ororo despite being concerned chose to ignore it as she went to make herself breakfast. Logan would have to fight his own demons.

Logan awoke in a bolt, falling out of the unfamiliar bed as he did so. Ororo heard the loud thump of his body hitting the wooden floor.

'Great he's up.' she thought as she finished washing her bowl and went outside with her tea. She really didn't want to deal with The Wolverine. She calmly slide the expanding patio door shut as she sat out on the deck of the boathouse. She sipped her tea quietly as her cell phone buzzed.

The man known as the deadly Wolverine found himself in a state he hadn't been in, in quite some time. Hung over and hurting. His healing factor had tried to kick in last night. He some what remembered that he had kept ordering Harry to keep his six drink baseline full. Six shot glasses full to overflowing with 90% Proof Whiskey. Harry kept a hidden stash for his favorite customers. Logan held his head the healing factor had been slowed down to a crawl.

He kind of recalled Harry and Remy, he thinks it was Remy. They were saying that he was on drink number twenty-four or forty-two, he wasn't sure. But damn his body was going to make him pay for it until the blasted healing factor kicked in. Logan felt like he was moving in slow motion as he tried to figure out just where in the hell he was. This wasn't his room and when did he get new furniture? And why the hell did his room have such bright colored walls? He didn't recall having white walls, did he?

Logan nearly crawled as he attempted to pull his rubbery legs up into a standing position but found he had to pull his non-responsive body up onto this high as hell bed. The damn thing was huge. Logan found himself prone and flattened across the bed. He figured it would be best if he just stayed still a while and waited for his healing factor to kick in. His head was still swimming as he laid down. His mouth tasted like sawdust. His head was hurting. He wasn't moving one muscle.

'Yeah, I ain't moving not for a bit.' He though as he felt his head starting to defog and his body beginning to feel normal. Logan slowly ran his hands through his messy hair. Then the sunlight hit his room as the window shade flew up and Logan groaned out loud. The light was blinding.

When the hell did he get a southern exposure to his room? His eyes cleared. This wasn't his room. It was too damned big for one thing. It was white painted walls for another. There looked to be a balcony as well. He sure as hell didn't have a bed the size of the Brooklyn bridge in his room either. He laid his head back down. Oh yeah. This was the boathouse. Chuck was punishing him as an example to the kids. Right and Santa Claus was real.

Logan felt his head pop. It only did that when he sobered up. That was a sensation he hadn't felt in a very long time. He never got this drunk. At least not for years he figured. He rubbed his eyes as he turned onto his back. Ororo had gotten to him. Every time he saw her he felt like some dumb kid. This was no doubt how he was with Rose. He felt elated to be near her. To smell her scent. To watch the sun shine on her hair and skin. She was beautiful and damn he wanted her. It was making him crazy.

She was going crazy whenever he came near her. She hated him. He thought. But he did smell a scent that he couldn't identify when near her at times. It almost smelled like confusion. Ororo confused. That didn't seem right but he did smell it. She had it all over her that day in the greenhouse. He smirked. Maybe the Goddess was feeling something for him too. But she damn sure knew how to hide it. Ororo liked being a closed book.

She wore her emotions deep under her skin. She seldom let down her guard. That day in the greenhouse had been amazing. She shocked him speechless with her tirade. The Goddess didn't lose her cool except for that day. He liked it. He could push her buttons. That was what Remy, was that Remy? Was telling him last night. That Ororo never got really upset unless she really cared. If she didn't she went on with her life like you never existed.

Logan knew now that she knew he existed. She couldn't hide that fact. Now they had to share a small space. This wasn't going to be easy. When he came back from the other Logan's world, he was determined that he would make peace with Ro. Maybe be friends if nothing else. But he got one look at her and the beast inside went berserk. It screamed at him. It was clawing at him to claim it's mate. His head gave him a kick as the last of the alcohol was being cleaned out of his system. Holy hell he was never going to drink like that again.

Ororo was now on the patio and held back a giggle when she realized, from reading her text from Remy, that Logan had been drinking a lot. Remy wanted to know if he was now blind? She laughed out loud as she heard Logan grumbling from his bedroom window about 'Frails needing to be quiet early in the morning.' Ororo smiled as she set out at a brisk pace for a nice walk around the boathouse's many acres of land. Let the great Wolverine sober up and sort out his own mess.

Charles Xavier was laughing his head off as Hank sat at the desk telling him all that Peter had reported after he had to take Logan to the boathouse and put him to bed. He even had to carry poor Remy to his room and put him in bed as well. Charles tried to regain his composure.

"Well it seems my little plan is working. Logan getting that drunk. Stopping his healing factor is major. His being that fearful of staying that close to Ororo speaks volumes." Hank snorted barely keeping his tea from spilling.

"I can well imagine. How upset is the feral man that he has to try to kill himself with whiskey and all because he has to share a home with our lovely Windrider?" Xavier smirked.

"More upset then he's willing to admit. I think this summer will be very interesting. Two people fighting against their future." Hank laughed as he picked up another scone.

"Now Charles you're being very funny and cryptic. This summer will be one I maybe tempted to write about." Charles gave him a questioning look.

"Oh did I forget to mention, I'm writing a fictional work based on the style of soap opera I found gets the highest ratings from Neilson. I figure writing a book that's full of romance fashioned after my favorite soap opera will sell like hotcakes to the lonely women types." Charles looked shocked.

"Henry I never figured you for a sexiest." Hank nearly choked.

"I'm not Charles I assure you. What I am doing is researching the media data that points to the biggest group who purchase tomes like the one I'm currently writing. The demographics point to women aged twenty-five to forty-eight, single, never married and no chance of marrying in the future." Charles sighed.

"I find those demographics unbelievable. I cannot believe that so many healthy, wonderful women have no chance at marriage." Hank sighed.

"I don't make the demographics Charles I'm just using them to my own advantage." Charles shook his head and drank more tea. Moira walked in.

"I heard you two. And those demographics fail to state that the majority of those women are single mothers and or working women. And that most do find relationships but they choose not to marry." Moira sniffed as she spoke this and Charles smiled.

"There now Henry you see, not all demographics can give you all the real facts." Henry snorted.

"Then I dare not give you the one on single men over thirty." Moira snorted as she sat down to her cup of tea.

Ororo was floating on the low range winds around the lake. The days were getting hotter as summer was approaching and Ororo couldn't wait for the summer to fly by. Mainly because she was going to be stuck with Logan in this house. She lightly landed on the opposite side of the river farther away from the new home.

She was dreading going back to that house. Logan was there. The home reminded her of how Jean dreamt of the day she and Scott would be married. How they were going to remake the boathouse into a home for them. Ororo sat down on the grass and laid down. Jean was gone. A comatose Scott was back, as well as the professor. What was going to happen when Scott woke up?

These thoughts were always in the back of her mind. Since they found Scott alive it was the main consuming though she had. What would happen when he woke up? How would he live now without Jean? Her first death had nearly killed him. Would finding out what she had done and to whom cause him to want to join her? Ororo felt her old fears raising up. She didn't want to lose her brother again. They had been close growing up together. She'd missed Scott more then Jean.

He was always on her side. He even let lose a beam at Forge after the bastard had hurt her. Xavier tried to keep Scott from finding Forge but when Ororo had run off to New Orleans after her heartbreak for a rest. Scott tracked Forge down and blasted the man into needing a month in rehab. Ororo was stunned but secretly pleased that her brother beat the crap out of the creep who hurt her. Jean had been furious with Scott, Charles outraged, Hank dumbfounded. Ororo was elated and gave him a welcome home hug and kiss. He loved his sister to a fault. She always loved him for that.

She closed her eyes and basked in the sun baking her skin and feeling wonderful. She was trying not to worry about what was to come knowing the Goddess would take care of it all. She was going to keep the distance between Logan and herself regardless of what Charles wanted. People talked on phones everyday. Even computers. Right now she didn't want to be physically near him. He unsettled her.

Logan was seated under the umbrella of the patio table. Since this morning. He hadn't failed to notice how Ororo stayed away from the house as much as possible. It had been nearly four hours now and she still wasn't back from her riding the winds around the forest area. He picked up on where she was. His ears and nose told him she was alright. He knew she was just avoiding having to be alone with him. Ororo was mad at him. Logan knew she felt like he was just seeing her as some leftover on the table since Jean was gone.

In Ororo's eyes Jean had been Logan's main course. She didn't know about Rose and his messed up memories. Those memories, they had caused him to place the young Jean on some pedestal. Mainly to replace his long dead crush from nearly two centuries ago. Maybe if they could do what the professor ordered them to do each week then maybe she might began to understand him better. Not just think she was a cheap substitute for Jean Grey. Logan sat back in his chair putting his feet up on the table and taking out one of his stogies to smoke. 'Might as well be comfortable.' He thought. He knew Ro was going to take her time getting back.

The sun going down told Ororo she had to get back to the house. Charles would pick a Friday to drop them off at this home. Now she had a whole weekend to spend in the house with Logan. She felt her shoulders droop as she walked partway back to the house. She smelled cooking and noticed smoke in the night sky.

As Ororo approached the house she noticed Logan out by the barbeque. He was cooking some steaks and even tofu burgers. Ororo eyed him as she silently walked towards the patio door. Logan turned and grunted at her.

"I made some tofu burgers. Figured ya would be hungry after riding the winds all day." Ororo was almost too stunned too speak.

How the hell did he know what she liked to eat? Oh right they are the only two people in this house. Why else was the walk in fridge loaded with the favorite foods of the two people made to stay here against their wills. She smiled weakly as she shook her head.

"Thank you Logan. I'll go make some salad, fresh fruit juice and bring your beers." She saw those in the fridge. Charles must have an eye for knowing all the favorite foods of every person in the mansion. He even had Ro's Ben and Jerry's in the freezer section.

Logan watched her walk away. He never said another word. They ate in silence. It wasn't awkward. It seemed to give them both a sense of calm. Ororo figured if they could be like this for the next three months, well maybe they could live through this. Summer was the shortest season. Here anyway.

The dinner was fast and quick for them both. Ororo washed the dishes and Logan dried them. It was awkward at best. Neither one wanted to make any small talk. Ororo kept making sure she didn't get too close to Logan. He was giving her space so as not to crowd her.

When the dishes were done. Ororo muttered a quick good night and rushed to her room. Although she put on the act of walking slowly to her room. Until she hit the third floor landing and took two steps at a time to her room. She exhaled heavily when she closed her bedroom door.

It wasn't lost on her the way Logan kept sneaking long fretful looks at her. If he thought he was being convert he wasn't. She caught him each time. His eyes were boring into her. She felt odd and didn't like it. It reminded her of the alternate world's Logan. She shivered. That man had creeped her out.

Ororo wanted a long bath. She turned on her Bose by her bed and played some Mary . A bath would help her relax. Just one more day and then she would be at the mansion. She could do this. Just ignore the way he stared at her and she would be fine. Ororo huffed. Right. It unnerved her still. He looked like a lost puppy when she said a hasty goodnight and pretty much fled the kitchen. Logan a puppy? Whoa. She was tired.

She prepared her bath and poured in her salts. A long soak and a good sleep and maybe tomorrow would go faster. She removed her clothes and underwear. She could plant a garden or something. Anything to keep Logan at bay. Ororo tied her long hair up in a top knot. Maybe all that beer in the fridge would knock him out. Charles didn't seem to object to it being in the boathouse. Ororo grinned. Maybe she could persuade Moira to bring over some hard whiskey. She stepped into her bath. That would knock him out. She smiled as she sat back in her hot bubbly bath.

Logan sat down in the large leather chair and popped out the footrest. Chuck had done a good job with this home. The lounge area had a wide screen TV and there was no block here on any of Logan's favorite sports channels. All of his fights were uncensored here. There was even surround sound. Logan kept it kind of low. He heard Ro running her bath upstairs. She sometimes fell asleep in her baths.

Ororo was in her room. He glanced up. Correction her bath now and he could watch all the violent blood sports he wanted. He grinned then sighed. Still they barely spoke except for maybe one word sentences. Neither one was comfortable tonight. He couldn't stop staring at her and she couldn't get that deer caught in headlights look outta her eyes when she spotted him staring.

Oh yeah three months of two people trying to steer clear of each other in a house this size was going to be just peachy. He rubbed his head with his cold beer. Ororo was jumpy around him. She sensed what Chuck did. His beast was roaring at him. She had to know. He was fighting to keep it down when ever she was near. Her scent was already all over the house and they'd only been here for less than a day.

Tomorrow was Saturday. Sunday's Ororo always assisted those kids who went to church. She didn't go or even believe in their faith but did take the students to the local church near the school that they liked to attend. He wondered if Chuck had changed that too. Logan sat back and tried to get his head into the fight on the TV in front of him. He looked up at the stairs again. Tomorrow. He was going to make an effort to talk to her tomorrow.

The next morning Ororo awoke to her cell phone ringing. It was Moira.

"Good morning Ororo. I didn't wake you did I?" Ororo grinned despite herself.

"No. I was just getting up." She glanced at the clock. It was early still just after eight. On Saturday's the mansion residents usually slept in until around ten. Ororo frowned.

"Moira is anything wrong?" She could hear Moira clearing her throat.

"Wrong? Why no dear of course not. Everything is fine. I'm only calling because Charles asked me to inform you that tomorrow I'll be taking the kids to church so you don't have to bother. In fact Charles has asked me to do so for the summer." Ororo's face dropped.

"What?" She could barely speak.

"Well due to what Charles has asked of you and Logan. He felt it would be best if I took over your Sunday duties. He stressed that he wanted nothing to interfere with you and Logan's therapy." Ororo was speechless. She couldn't speak until she heard Moira calling her name. She found her voice only it came out a little squeaky.

"Oh no Moira that's not a problem. Of course Charles thinks of everything." Moira sighed before she spoke.

"Sweetie don't fret. Everything will work out fine. Just trust Charles." Ororo was rubbing her head.

"Of course. I will always trust Charles. Thank you Moira for calling me."

"No problem my love. Get some rest and I'll see you on Monday." Ororo sighed deeply.

"Yes you will Goodbye."

"Bye love see you Monday." They both hung up. Moira glared at Charles who looked at his hands. Ororo looked at the phone and laid back down. Two whole days stuck with Logan. Oh Goddess.

By the time she came downstairs a full hour later. The smells of fresh coffee and tea along with eggs, toast and bacon were in the house. Logan had taken it upon himself to cook breakfast. Ororo almost didn't enter the kitchen area but did. Shocked as he greeted her with a good morning.

She looked bewildered that Logan cooked breakfast. She had no idea he even ate breakfast. He always had a beer in the garage most mornings.

Was he smiling. Uhh oh that wasn't good. Ororo went to get a plate as Logan yanked the plate first and set it on the table.

"Figured since I don't need much sleep. I'd just make breakfast for both of us. Ya looked pretty tired last night." She stared for a full minute before speaking.

"Uhh… Yeah I kind of was. Thank you Logan." He smiled again. Ororo looked bewildered as she sat down. He even made her green tea and put the honey and lemon slices in front of her. He knew what she put in her tea? Ororo darted her eyes at him as she prepared her morning fix.

Logan filled her plate and served her. He then went and fixed his. Soon he was seated across from her at the table. Ororo couldn't shake the nervous lilt in her stomach. It felt like a knot coiling in her belly. She hoped she could keep down the food.

The eggs were good. He even put in some cheese and the bacon was turkey. Her favorite. That was a shock. Logan ate turkey bacon too. He was eating his food and enjoying it. She sighed. She was a grown-up despite her new look or old one. So she was just going to eat with this man who unnerved her. Oh Goddess. She smiled sweetly and mentioned that the food was good. Logan grinned. He looked less intimidating that way. This was going to be a long weekend. They both sat at the table eating quietly for a while. Finally Logan broke the ice.

"So ya wanna try what Chuck wants us to do today?" Ororo nearly choked. Logan swiftly patted her back gently.

"Thank you." She sputtered out the words as her throat cleared.

"You want to talk now?" She sounded like a canary her voice was so high. Logan looked like he was holding in his laugher.

"Yeah why not. Hell we might as well get started." Ororo's eyes were wider then he had ever seen them before.

"Okay. Where do we start? I really don't know what we're supposed to talk about?" Logan smirked.

"How about what happened when the other Logan was here and we'll work our way to right after the blow-up in the greenhouse and me and you avoiding each other like either one of us has the plague." Ororo swallowed her tea in a gulp. She nearly spite it out after hearing the way Logan phrased their therapy sessions. He did laugh at the odd face she made. She shook her head and despite her brain screaming at her. She laughed at the way he was just cracking up at her. They both quieted down after a while.

"Alright. I'll start with the first weird week at Xavier U on this world and you can tell me about your weird week at the alternate Xavier U on the other world." Ororo sat back as she sipped more tea. Logan grinned. They had made a start.

After four hours of talking and laughing some. They had actually done what Charles had ordered them to do. They talked. It was both strange and liberating to Ororo. It was as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Logan too looked relived to tell Ororo all about his past and that of the other Logan's.

They had tip-toed around anything to heavy in their talk fest. Both feeling like that should come later. They did have three months to feel comfortable enough to tell each other their deep dark secrets. But Logan did explain his Jean/Rose obsession. Ororo wasn't too shocked. Logan's immediate attraction to Jean had even stomped Jean as well. Many a night she had disclosed to Ororo that she didn't know why Logan was so drawn to her.

Now Ororo sat in the still empty garden planting some seedlings that Peter had brought over and left in the mud room for Ororo. Logan was out front mowing the large lawn. Ororo was still in awe that they had even sat at the kitchen table and talked like too reasonable adults. The day was sunny and bright. She was still a little disheartened about her Sunday duties being taken from her, but at least she and Logan had made some headway into what Xavier wanted them to do.

She felt a shadow over her as she looked up and saw Logan. He was shirtless and sweaty. His muscles were glistening in the sun. Not an ounce of body fat was on his taunt abs. His arms looked like road maps of how muscle should look but no other man's would look like his did. He stood moping up his perspiration with a large towel.

"Need any help?" Ororo made her eyes focus on his. She was trying to keep her mouth from gaping open when what he said registered.

"You want to help me in the garden?" Logan smirked.

"I did tell ya that I was in Japan for a while. I figured I pretty much picked up caring for plants while I was there." Ororo sat back on her butt with her legs folded under her.

"Well if you don't mind. I could use some help. I need to get the vegetable garden set up over there and I was thinking of adding the fruit trees in that spot." She had pointed out various parts of the large backyard. Logan looked at the way Ororo had planned out the garden.

"Ya got a good eye Ro. I see why the plants love ya so much. Those are the best places to put them." Ororo was stunned but pleased too. Logan did know something about plants. Who knew? She smiled widely at him. No knot this time. He grinned and went to start the veggie garden.

They worked almost until the sun went down. Both were exhausted as Ororo excused herself wanting a hot shower to get the dirt off her body. Logan did the same. She was downstairs before him and started dinner. She knew he liked meat. So she made the pork roll that was in the freezer and some baked potatoes and a green salad to go with them. She had a cold beer ready for him at the table when he came down.

They sat down to eat talking of the plants and how amazing this house was. Logan noted the sad smile Ororo had on her face when he even stated that the house looked like it was made for a family. Ororo told him about Jean and Scott's plans. His face tightened up. Ororo immediately regretted it. Logan after a while spoke.

"I don't know what I'm gonna say to one-eye. I ruined his life chasing after his girl and to top it off I killed her too." Ororo sat stunned for a while before she spoke.

"Logan it wasn't your fault about Jean's death. It had to be done. If not the whole world would have died instead. The entity was out of her control. She couldn't stop it. She needed our help. She needed your help." Logan gave Ororo a wan smile.

"Yeah who better then weapon X to kill ya. It's what Stryker made me for." Ororo just looked at him.

"Stryker didn't make you Logan. Your parents did. He programmed you like a slave or a robot. You had no control over what he made you do. You can't place the blame for your pass only on you. He's the monster that made you do those things. You know that better then anyone." Logan shook his head, rubbing his beefy hands threw his hair.

"Ya don't know Ro. I enjoyed my job for a long time. I was good at killing. The best according to my past. I could kill without mercy and I did. I was the tool Stryker needed to get the job done." Ororo leaned on her arm as she sat at the table.

"You're not his tool now and you haven't been for a while. Logan you are your own man. You had to make a decision that day. All of us X-men did. Jean somewhere deep inside knew that too. She knew there was no one else who could stop her. None of us could get that close. Only you. I think she was counting on that." Logan looked at Ororo's eyes. She was serious. That day was a red letter day for the X-men.

"Yeah ya right." Ororo smiled a small side smile. Logan grunted.

"I think the main thing I'm gonna find out this summer is that somehow someway. Ororo Munroe is always right." He grinned as he said it. Ororo sat up grinning.

"Well if that's all you learn this summer then you have the answers to the universe." Logan looked at Ororo. She was smirking. He had too just watching her. They both laughed.

Sunday morning found Ororo up early despite her lack of duties. She got up took a shower and dressed in a pair of shorts and pheasant blouse. She walked out barefooted to the lake and sat on the lower pier. She let her feet wade in the cool waters. The sun was still just raising. Ororo never noticed Logan as he walked quietly to her carrying two steaming cups.

"Figured ya would needing some strong tea. I hadda a feeling Chuck was gonna take away your Sunday duties. Hell he's got Pete and Bobby trying to fix that old busted up van I've been working on in the back of the garage." Ororo gave Logan a weak smile.

"I guess we really are being punished uhh." Ororo took his offering of green tea and sipped slowly. He had prepared it just right.

"You know Chuck. He's kinda anal for a guy who wants to save the world by doing good deeds. He wants his children and adults to get along. And if ya don't do as he says. He's laying down the law for ya to fellow. I guess my messing up right before he was killed kinda of made him see he's gotta be tougher with us stubborn types." Ororo nearly gagged as she drink her tea.

"You believe I'm stubborn?" Logan drank his coffee and grinned.

"Yep. According to Remy Stubborn is your middle name." Ororo rolled her eyes at him.

"I wouldn't believe everything Remy says you know. He says a lot of things. Most of which are just Remy waxing about anything that suites his fancy. Just ask Marie. She knows him better then I do now." Logan grimaced.

"Don't remind me. I had to come upon them one time when they were in a lip lock. Took three danger room sessions to calm my nerves." Ororo laughed.

"Good grief Logan Marie is like twenty-two now." Logan gave her the eye.

"Doesn't matter to me if she was one hundred and forty-two. She's still a kid to me and Remy is too suave for her. A lot older than her. She's a child compared to him."

Ororo sat staring at him. Logan caught her look.

"What's that look for?" Ororo sipped her tea before answering.

"I do note that you are at least well over several centuries older then me." Logan nearly choked on his coffee. He caught the glint of a smile in Ororo's face as she got up and walked back to the house. He took sometime to clear his throat. Thinking out loud.

"Damn she's got ya there."

By the time noon came. Both were seated in the backyard. Logan had grilled some steaks and fish. Ororo had made a macaroni salad and a plum fruit sorbet. She had a large pitcher of lemonade on the table as Logan drank from one of the cold beers Ororo had brought him. He watched her as she placed the dishes on the table. She was dressed now in a soft yellow colored summer dress with her feet still bare after jogging after their morning chat. She looked good with her hair down. It was billowing in the soft cool breezes she had made to cool off the area and blow the smoke away. Logan was in a pair of jean cut-offs and shirtless. The day was a hot one.

Ororo sat the pitcher down near the salad. The sun was very warm today. No doubt what the summer was promising to be. Hot and humid. She wondered how the kids were faring at the school. Her attention was drawn to Logan who was growling at the grill. His beloved steaks were over heating.

He moved them swiftly to the side of the grill and finished off the fish. Ororo went back inside and gathered the rolls she had made after her shower. Baking was her favorite thing to do. When ever she felt sad. All she had to do was bake. She was still a little upset. She enjoyed driving the kids to church.

Even if she didn't believe in their God she still had her Goddess and she felt bonded with them when they drove to and from the church. The students enjoyed the spirited talks they had about belief and the power of an entity who loved everyone. She had always liked the feeling that connected them to one another. Sundays were special because of that.

Ororo pulled out the now brown and ready biscuits. The biscuits were easy to make. Her cake had taken longer but Logan had been on his grill engrossed with his steaks and pre-seasoning the bluefish. She pulled out the now done chocolate cake layers. Logan would be shocked when he tried her cake. Henry always had seconds. She pulled out the cool frosting and sat everything on the side for later. Her ice cream would go good with the cake.

She left the cake layers to cool while she buttered the rolls and bought them out to the table. Logan did a double take when he noted the fresh rolls and smelled them.

"I didn't see any rolls in the fridge." Ororo smirked as she helped him place the steaks and fish on the table.

"Of course not Logan. I made these." Logan looked taken aback.

"I never knew ya baked." Ororo smiled as Logan helped her into her seat.

"Not many people do. I haven't baked in a while. Only Hank noticed when I did. Mainly because I was making about forty dozen cookies when he arrived over two years ago." Logan looked up from fixing their plates.

"I remember that. It was around the time that we lost chuck and jean there was a large batch of cookies in the kitchen. I figured Jubilee or Kitty just went to one of them big box stores and piled up on them. I do recall they were damn good. Couldn't find the box thought." Ororo smirked.

"There wasn't one to find. Back then I think I used about forty-five pounds of flour and God knows how much chocolate. We had cookies in the mansion for at least two weeks. I was amazed they didn't last longer." Ororo cut into the fish. It smelled wonderful. Logan grinned as he tasted one of Ororo amazing mouth watering biscuits.

"I think that's because every time I turned around I often spotted one of the kids or teachers munching on them. Even the headstone guy. He was eating them in one bite. Not too mention they went great with cold beer." Ororo stopped eating her fish with her fork midway to her mouth. She looked at Logan. He smiled.

"Okay you can bake. I gotta say it. Those cookies were amazing and these biscuits will make me fat. Mainly because by morning they'll all be gone." He popped one more into his mouth and reached for two more. Ororo looked at Logan as he chowed down on them and laughed.

It had been two days since Ororo and Logan were banished. The mansion felt oddly empty without them. The professor had assured Hank that starting today they would be back to do their jobs at the school. Even Kitty had felt the need to be her melodramatic self by telling Charles that.

"The gardens were mourning for Ororo. The garage misses Logan." Xavier had called Peter to come get his wayward fiancé as Hank had left laughing wholeheartedly going down to his lab to check on Scott.

Hank had just finished placing another bag of his DNA formula into Scott's Summer's comatose body. Since he had arrived Hank had been feeding his DNA formula into him. It worked on supercharging a person's DNA cells to speed up healing. So far Scott would be his first patient. Remy wouldn't let Hank administer it to him at all. Clawed up hand or not. Hank was just leaving the med lab as Geri came down.

"Well we got everything set for next Friday's party." Hank did a double take nearly straining his neck.

"I though the professor had cancelled that?"

"Nope in fact he insisted that we still have it. Thus it's next Friday now. Anyway he said something about boosting morale for the school." Geri spoke as she adjusted her glasses. Hank snorted as he smiled.

"I think Charles knows more about boosting morale than anyone. Come with me young lady. I believe I have a set of contacts that will help with your eye sight problem. Until we can fix the problem for good." Hank was still working on individualizing his DNA formula for non-mutants. Geri followed Hank to a far corner of the large med lab.

There she was placed into a seat near one of Hank's workstations. He removed her eyeglasses and had her place two clear colored contacts onto her hazel colored eyes. Geri then had to read the eye chart Hank clicked on from the projector as he darkened their area of the lab. Too Geri's amazement she read the entire chart correctly. Hank laughed as he noted the shock written all over Geri's face.

"I read the whole thing… I read the whole thing!" Geri was shouting and jumping up and down with joy. Hank laughed as she hugged him. She was skipping and hopping all over the lab that is until she knocked over a large tray of instruments that caused a loud bang to hit the floor. This caused a sleeping patient to wake up.

"Jean! Stop! Stop now! No!" The voice was Scott Summers. Hank and Geri rushed to the room that adjoined the lab. Inside Scott had shot upright in the bed, tubes still attached to him as he was screaming for Jean to stop. Luckily he had on his temporary goggles.

"You're Killing me Jean! Stop! Please stop!" Hank rushed over and quickly shot Scott with a sedative to calm his nerves. Geri stood by wide-eyed and stunned.

"Geri get Moira and the Professor." She ran from the room using the stairs to get to Charles Xavier. He was at the elevator with Moira. He smiled that serene look at Geri as he spoke.

"No need to run child. I could hear Scott's call like a siren in my head. I'm on my way with Moira now. Please go and rest and we'll all talk shortly."

"Yes professor." Geri barely got out trying to breath.

"Oh and Geri after you've rested have Peter bring Ororo and Logan here from the boathouse. I don't want Ororo using the winds to get here and Logan can't fly. Their emotions will be hectic enough once they find out Scott has rejoined us." Geri just shook her head and hurried away. Moira patted Charles' shoulder as the elevator came and they rode down to the Lab.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or their characters. I only own my characters and the fiction which I wrote. I make no profit from this story. Man!

SOMETHING STRANGE SOMETHING NEW

Chapter 5

Geri was talking to Peter after he had just dropped off a silent Ororo and Logan with the professor. He had waited for them at the front entrance. Now they were all downstairs in the Med Lab. Peter sat with Geri in the living room. He was astounded that she could now see without her very ugly glasses as Jubilee had put it. Kitty soon joined them sitting next to her fiancé. Geri explained how Hank had been examining her eyes since the day he met her.

The first night in the mansion he'd had Geri in the lab for four hours taking tissue samples and testing her eyesight. He had her looking through several odd machines. Kitty laughed knowing Hank became dogged when he wanted to do something or test a theory.

Peter had to add he was that way with all the X-men and students. Taking samples, getting a DNA profile, Hank never stopped but as they talked all three were wondering what was going on downstairs now that Scott Summers had woken up.

Scott was calmer now but still somewhat confused and tired. He was reeling from his own memories of Jean. The evil look that had come over her face before he felt her mind shredding his body into small particles. Causing him to die a slow painful dead until she'd regained a small ounce of herself and ended it quickly. That face and those cold eyes were not his Jeans'. After the pain all he recalled was nothing but darkness and a feeling of floating in a void. A thick and heavy place, cloudy where he had no physical feeling but had some form of awareness and that was it.

Scott couldn't put it into words well. But he had recalled that odd feeling of peace that came over him for a while. It had been abruptly replaced by this anxious unease, like he wasn't supposed to be there but someplace else instead. The whole group had all just listened quietly.

Ororo he noted was shedding silent tears. They streaked her face as she just let them fall. Logan looked pained and upset, even angry at times. The professor tried to mask his pain but his eyes were the thing that got to Scott. His eyes looked like they understood just what Scott was trying to say.

Moira looked pained and anguished. Hank had a look of pity and sorrow on his brow. They both looked very upset and even sorry more so that Scott had felt that pain from someone he had loved so deeply. A woman he had mourned greatly before he was reunited with her right before she killed him. Her entity the Phoenix was never Scott's Jean.

That thing was pure evil, pure raw emotion. The Phoenix possessed no checks or balances. It wasn't human. Just an very powerful part of Jean's evolving mutation she could no longer control. There was no wrong or right for the entity. It simply fed on emotions whether they were good or bad.

Scott was stunned when the professor had explained everything to him asking him not to speak until he was though. And then to just listen to every word he had to say. By the end of the four hours in group with each member including Moira telling their share of what had happened in the past two years. Scott was still trying to get his head around that. A lot had happened and there were of course changes to the team and the world.

It had affected him when Charles had to explain how Jean died. The pained look in Logan's face told him more then he had wanted to know. At that moment he realized he didn't hate Logan. He pitied him. Logan had had to kill a woman they both had loved. The look on Logan's face made Scott realize he would have been as broken as Logan looked if he had to kill her. But he understood. His Jean was no longer in control. The way those cold eyes had peered at him told him that.

He was gone when the rest of his family had to fight for their lives and the world's. Scott let it all sink in. He realized that Charles was no doubt helping him by keeping his mind peaceful and steady. He was glad for it. He felt like his heart was breaking again. His great love was Jean was still there only now he was resigned to the fact that she would never be back. She couldn't handle her out of control mutation. Perhaps it was best that she had died. In the wrong hands she was the worlds greatest weapon.

He gave Logan a weak smile. It didn't surprise him when Logan nodded back. Charles seemed to become calmer when he saw this. Hank put up a feeble grin as Moira still held a silent but sobbing Ororo's hand. Scott placed his hand on her other one. She squeezed his hand. He managed to get a small smile from his little sister. She stopped sobbing. They all sat around his bed with a small moment of silence. It allowed everyone to gather their thoughts. Maybe even mourn for all that they had lost.

Scott couldn't believe his eyes when he'd first seen Ororo. She looked like she did when they were younger. Charles went on to explain more after the silent respite. Then Scott heard the whole story of the Nanny. Now here he was alive again and two years older without knowing anything that had happened in the world for all that time.

He felt like a stranger in a strange land. Only this was his home. He just had to pull himself through this. He had no choice now. He had missed his family and they had missed him. Scott had to keep it together. Looking at Ro's teary face, he knew he had no choice but too.

Charles had comforted him explaining it all. Nick Fury and Hank's government connections were working on explaining the professor's return from the dead. They would now be working on his as well. Scott could only stare blankly as he noted how Logan looked at Ro when she wasn't aware. He was no rocket scientist, but he knew those looks, from his love for Jean.

He found that wasn't hurting him as much as it was before she'd killed him. He had been in so much extreme pain from her willing him to die, it had put his feelings for her in turmoil. The death had been slow and painful. He couldn't get the look of the entity's eyes from his mind. The Phoenix had been cruel. Relishing his cries of anguish.

It had no humanity. It was pure evil feeding off of his fear and pain. It had enjoyed watching him suffer. That alone had nearly killed him. He wondered if he could ever come to grips with the anger, betrayal and horror he felt from that experience.

But then he recalled it. The look in Jean's eyes at his last moments. That glimpse of his love. The pain she showed as if she were crying inside. She had only been able to control the Phoenix for a moment but that was all she needed. He was gone in a second. One minute he was here the next he was nothing.

The professor reminded him that at the last moment she had become Jean again and ended his pain the only way she could for the short time she was in control. That was to kill him quickly so the Phoenix couldn't have it's fun torturing him. Scott just nodded as Ororo hugged him for a long time and kissed him. She swiftly left the room after the session was officially over. Logan had even grunted out a.

"Welcome back one-eye." As he too left in a hurry.

The others lingered until just he and the professor were alone. Before Xavier left Scott called him closer and asked quietly. Whispering into his ear. His voice now thin and raspy.

"What's up with Logan and Ororo? Are they a couple now?" Xavier could only grin. He patted Scott on his shoulder. Hank hovering nearby to wait before checking Scott's person for Xavier and Moira to leave.

Ororo took to the skies as soon as she cleared the front door not bothering to stop and talk to anyone. She called her winds to ride them far over the estate. Logan remained on the back porch watching her. She sored out into the night sky calling a powerful display of wind, rain, thunder and lightening to her as she let out her pain to the skies. Peter joined Logan on the porch as both men sat down and watched.

A still bandaged Remy joined them also watching for the full three hours it took to allow the windrider to vent her pent up emotions and feel better. When she was finished the skies cleared. The winds, rain and thunderstorms ebbed away as Ororo floated slowly to the ground spent and sobbing. Remy turned to speak to Logan and found he was gone. Peter stared at the dark path Logan had taken into the woods headed to where Ororo had come down. He patted Remy on his back and bid him come inside perhaps in the morning things would be better.

Ororo was sobbing and shaking on the ground. Tears blinded her eyes as she felt her body shake with heart stopping cries until she slowed down. Soon only sniffles were coming from her as she lay on the ground covered in mud and leaves. She was uncaring about her wet mud stained clothes as she felt strong hands lift her off the ground. She was cradled in a hard strong body that carried her away.

Ororo kept her eyes closed and just tried to breath to calm her fast beating heart and gain control of her emotions. She didn't register that she was headed for the boathouse. She didn't even note that she was carried upstairs to her bedroom's bath and placed on the chair to her vanity. Logan silently removed her wet shoes and clothes keeping his mind on getting her into a bed so she could sleep.

Ororo wasn't even aware as the water was running into her tub that Logan gently bathed her even washing her hair. Later as he dried her off when finished he placed a loose night gown on her before putting her to bed. He washed up himself removing his dirty clothes leaving only his boxers on as he lay in bed with Ororo. He laid down on the comforter leaving her under the sheets to hold the still in shock woman too him. It would allow her to feel comfort and to get some sleep. Ororo finally fell out as Logan rubbed her back. Soothing her soul as she slept in his arms. He watched the night sky though her skylight. Thankful that she had calmed down enough to sleep.

When the morning came Ororo awoke with a start. She was in her bed. She was clean and in a nightgown. She felt a strong arm around her waist. Her body was cradled next to a warm solid chest. She lifted her eyes up slowly and stared at Logan's now sleeping face. Vaguely she recalled last night. Her brother's anguish and her pain for him.

Ororo didn't move from her position in Logan's arms. She laid still in his arms. She sighed quietly as Logan hugged her closer to him. Somehow it felt comforting in his arms. She still felt the pain and sadness she had for Scott. It was heartbreaking to hear his strangled voice choke with emotion as he recalled the last moments of his life as The Phoenix was slowly killing him. She was thankful that Jean had regained a small window in which to end Scott's suffering.

Even Charles had been overcome. He never cried on the outside. But Ororo knew inside he was grieving. The strain he showed last night was there. His eyes betrayed the torture he felt. His two prized students, once so in love and happy only to torn apart by the entity that would not be contained any longer in Jean. It pained her mentor to know Jean was lost to them forever now.

She had lost control after hearing Scott's journey. It had upset her to a point where she needed to cry out to her Goddess. How could her brother be made to suffer so much. He and Jean never deserved the pain and heartache they had gone through. Now they would never have their happy ending. Ororo always felt Scott deserved that.

Scott had loved Jean. Neither one deserved what had happened and all because of the Phoenix. There was no couple like Scott and Jean. They had been very happy, very in love and very sure about their plans for the future. All that was washed away by Stryker. It was unfair to Scott and Jean.

They had a future. They had a life planned. Why was it all taken away from them? What reason would the universe have for tearing their lives apart? Ororo had cried all this out to the Goddess last night. No answers had come. Just her pain for Scott and her sorrow for Jean. She was spent from feeling pain. She was past tired of mourning. A part of her family had been returned. But one piece was lost forever. She was buried in the yard.

Logan opened one eye when he felt her jump out of sleep like something woke her. He was surprised that she didn't jump up and scream at him to leave her room. Instead she was calm and apparently thinking. He heard her breaths and her heartbeat, both were regular for her. She was just still as she faced the open balcony doors. Ororo was quiet. Logan was too. Both didn't want to disturb the peace in the room.

Logan thought back to what had been heard last night. Hearing the pain in Scott's voice from his last memories of Jean, a woman he had loved more then his own life. He had mourned her passing like a man waiting to die. Only to get her back and have her torture him slowly before she killed him. That betrayal was too much for Ororo to take. Logan knew. He had heard her heart racing last night as Scott had talked. Ororo couldn't stop her tears.

She'd heard the timbre of his voice as it shook at times and was so infused with pain. They all had. She knew Scott was at a loss as to how Jean could be so evil towards him. Logan was stunned by that too. She had professed to love him forever and yet she had killed him. It reminded Logan of the beast he held inside of him. It could kill but thankfully he had some control. More then Jean.

Ororo sighed as she lay unmoving. Logan sniffed the air smelling her calm wash over her along with her sorrow. Everyone last night had been affected by Scott's recall of his last moments on earth before Jean tore him from this world and to his untimely death. Hank's hand had shook as he tried to cover it when he poured Scott some water. Moira kept wiping her eyes and sniffling trying to appear unaffected. But they all were.

Charles had worn the pain on his face. His eyes looked years older as he sat dull faced at his failure to contain the entity. He was, Logan knew, in anguish. It was a failure for Charles to lose Jean. One Logan figured he would never get over. The students were Chuck's kids whether he admitted it or not. He saw how he hovered over Ro shortly after they had lost Jean. He knew then Chuck was afraid of losing her too. Jean had been like the elder daughter to Charles. Ororo was no doubt the baby.

Logan never slept last night. He just held Ororo making sure she rested. He was on edge thinking what kind of hell did Scooter have to die at the hands of the woman he loved. The whole thing was too much for Logan. He saw and smelt the stress and horror one-eye had gone through. It was amazing to him that he made it back. Now he wondered how he was going to live without Jean. He clearly couldn't before. How would he fare now.

Logan saw the look in the professor's eyes as well. He knew only the professor could truly relate to what Scott had gone through. None of them including him, even as Jean had tried to kill him on the island during the fight at Worthington Labs, would know that kind of hurt. It was the kind that came with the feelings of having a loved one murder you. Logan didn't ever want to know those feelings. Back then Logan had though he loved Jean, now he knew that he had misplaced his feelings for a woman whom she resembled. Rose had been his unrequited love and Jean had been nothing like her.

Where Rose had been a simple farm girl, unworldly and not at all a mutant. Jean had been all things opposite Rose, worldly, sophisticated and very much a powerful mutant. Since she was a pre-teen Jean was able to project and control people and objects around her. Jean had been one of the most powerful mutants ever known. Most thought she was second to Chuck.

If not for the mental blocks the professor had placed on her, she would have no doubt been far worst then Magneto and deadlier then Stryker himself. Xavier would have been bent to her will as well. Chuck had saved a young Jean from her mutation early in her life. Placing her mental blocks in to contain the entity. Losing those mental blocks had been what had destroyed her. Sometimes some mutations were worst on the inside then they appeared on the outside.

Logan though of Lizzie. She was the sweetest little girl ever. Only five and looking more like a three year-old. But just like any little girl should be except for the fact that she looked more like a bird with her beak instead of a formed human mouth and nose. Most people including her parents had run from her leaving their mutated infant at the door of a church who brought the baby here. Where Chuck, before his death, had taken her in with open arms.

Ororo had been there to mother her just as she did with all the students. Never mind if they were too old in their minds to need mothering. Ororo just gave the children love and care. She was the anchor at the school. Filling in as the parent when many had none. It always struck him that all the kids including Marie ran to Ororo. Logan smirked causing Ororo to turn and look into his face. He smiled shyly shocking Ororo who had to grin herself.

"When did we start acting worse then the children?" She spoke softly. Logan laughed.

"I think it was around the time you hid all my beers after Chuck was gone and I lost it good." Ororo smirked at him now.

"Yes I remember. You rode off on your bike and were gone for a week. Hank had a pool started as to when you would return." Logan arched an eyebrow.

"Who won?" Ororo grinned turning to lay on her back.

"I did. I knew you would not leave Rouge here as upset as she was after Charles died plus she had broken up with Bobby. I knew you just needed to let off some steam." Logan shook his head.

"Well dumping a man's best beer is kind of a mean thing to do especially after we had to have services for three of our members." Ororo snickered shaking her head.

"Logan I know you keep the good beer hidden in the sub-basement of Hank's lab. I also know that you and he often have a few together late nights." Logan just stared at her wide eyed. Ororo laughed at his expression.

"I was a thief on the streets of Africa for years prior to coming to this school and Remy and I were extremely good thieves in New Orleans as well."

Logan noted that Ororo looked proud of these facts and puffed up her chest and chin while talking about it. He laughed neither one upset about laying in her bed so close with his arm still wrapped around her.

"Well Darlin you are good, excuse me, extremely good. Old Hank and I figured ya would never find my stash down there." Ororo laughed.

"Hank should know by now that there's not a secret room in that mansion I don't know about." Logan smiled as he looked at her laughing blue eyes.

"Why'd you wear brown contacts for all those years?" Ororo shook her head.

"Well let's see, I'm a black woman with dark brown skin, white hair and blue eyes. When you have that combination you can't go anywhere without people staring at you all the time. So since I can't dye my hair and I have tried. I just put on a hat or head wrap to hide my hair color and my eyes are easily hidden behind brown contacts so that I do not stand out in a crowd. That grows tiring after the one millionth time." Logan snorted.

"Ya never thought that it was just because you're beautiful that people gawk at you?" Ororo 's face grew serious.

"No. I found in the states I was not so much considered beautiful as exotic and that is a problem." Logan looked puzzled. Ororo sighed.

"When people see you as exotic, they tend to see you as an object not a human being. First and foremost I would prefer if people saw my humanity, regardless of my being a mutant." Logan grinned.

"I can understand that Darlin. With these claws I'm seen as more animal then man and that can really mess with your head." They both smiled and then Ororo looked as if she had been struck. Logan sat up and looked at the surprised expression that was on her face.

"What's wrong Ro?" Ororo sat up on her elbows.

"I just realized we are doing more of what the professor ordered us to do. Talking." Logan grinned.

"Not as hard as we though it would be is it? That is once we stopped avoiding each other. It's kinda nice to talk." He laid back down and placed his arm under his head as Ororo felt an emptiness where his arm had been on her stomach.

"Yes I guess we can talk Logan. It's easier to talk without worrying about bills and things. Maybe we should try to work out this friendship?" She asked it as a question. Logan grinned.

"Believe me Ro I'm your friend and I hope you're mine." Ororo laughed.

"Well you did bring me out from my despair last night. I though that what I learned from Scott last night would destroy me. He loved Jean so much." Logan turned his head to her.

"You do know that her mutation was what made her different and that if Chuck's mental blocks weren't there, the Jean you all knew would never have existed. She would have morphed into something so evil, worse then what we saw." Ororo turned to stare at him her eyes were misty.

"Yes Logan I know that now. I feared it right after she had killed him but last night just confirmed for me what Jean's nature would have been turned into. The entity would have swallowed her whole. The Phoenix had no boundaries. Her mutation was too much for her to handle and it would have destroyed her and the world." Logan pulled Ororo into his arms and just held her as she shred silent tears for a woman who was once like a sister to her.

Scott Summers was up and staring at Hank as he put connected another bag to his feeding tube.

"Hank what is that stuff?" Scott's voice was much more clear then it had been last night. Hank smiled.

"My own special formula my boy. It's already put about twenty-five pounds back on you and with another ten, you will be out of this lab by tomorrow." Scott shook his head.

"You're like a mad scientist in this lab Hank. What happened to your government job?" Hank grinned.

"Well with you and the professor gone, Ororo and Logan needed me here." Scott looked surprised.

"Logan stayed?" Hank grinned.

"Yes Logan stayed. Ororo and Marie needed him. Later on even Jubilee." Scott stared at Hank even with his smaller goggles on Hank could see he found the idea of Logan doing anything noble strange to his ears.

"Don't be so shocked my boy. Logan has finer qualities then even he knows. He may act gruff and rough. Even be that way at times. But like all of us mutants we are still very much a part of mankind. That aspect of us will never die no matter how much the mutations may show us to others as odd or strange to look at. Deep inside some humanity must remain or else without it we would die." Scott looked upset. Hank caught himself.

"I'm sorry for being a dumb bookworm who talks too much but know this, that Jean's last moment is where she gathered the last bit of her humanity and asked Logan to kill her or else she would have destroyed the world." Scott was quiet for some time but finally after a while he spoke in a shaky voice.

"I'm glad she was able to have that." Then the door opened and in walked Geri pushing a cart that smelled of breakfast.

"Good morning everyone Moira asked me to bring down breakfast for you both. I'm just going to leave it here because I have to do Lizzie's dress and then see about the decorations for the party on Friday." Hank smiled.

"Geri I'd like to introduce you to Scott Summers, Scott Summers Geri Randall our newest teacher here at X. U." Hank laughed with Geri and Scott staring at him. Hank always got his own jokes. Scott spoke first.

"Forgive my friend with the bad jokes. What mutation do you have?" Geri smiled.

"None I'm just a human like a lot of the day teachers and students here are. Didn't you have non-mutant people here before?" Scott was shocked but covered nicely.

"No, not really but it's nice to see that now things are changing. I was away for a long time." Hank snorted as he fixed their plates. Geri looked at him confused for a bit but smiled at Scott.

"Well I'm sure that you're glad to be back and your colleague's are pleased to have you back. Anyway welcome back even if I don't know you. I hope that you'll be well enough to be at the professor's party on Friday." Hank interjected.

"Now Scott that party includes you now also." Scott laughed.

"Like I can walk." Hank smiled evilly.

"You will by Friday." Geri stared from one man to the other.

"Well okay I better be getting upstairs to help Moira and Lizzie. Nice to have met you." Geri was out of the lab in a flash. Scott looked at Hank.

"She seems like a nice girl." Hank laughed.

"She's in her twenties and not a girl. She just looks like a nerd but she's a nice one." Scott laughed.

"Hard to believe that humans are here with us and not just mutants." Hank grinned.

"A lot of changes have happened in two years and since you're fattening up on schedule, tomorrow we start physical therapy. Your mutant body's DNA is reacting just as I calculated via my formula. So be prepared for a lot of grueling work in the gym and later the danger room." Scott sighed as Hank placed his tray of food on the bed table. Scott sat up so he could eat.

After Ororo and Logan had talked for some time hunger set in as Logan retreated to his room to get dressed and Ororo got up to wash and dress as well. Logan called Remy to bring the jeep so he and Ro could get to the school. Logan still had a schedule to keep a private work out with Artie, Bobby, Peter and Danny, a new human student who needed to learn how to defend himself.

Danny Stevens was the atypical nerd. His parents had enrolled him at Xavier's because they were tired of his getting bullied in all his other schools. They had gone through about ten schools so far. Here he wasn't a standout. He was tall but thin, with wide rimmed glasses on a blonde haired blue eyed freckled face.

He seldom spoke to most kids his age but had a lot of friends on his social media websites. He loved books on anything to do with robots. He was shy and never looked at most girls eye to eye. Logan had seen potential in him when he was placed in his self defense class.

Hank had been the one to get Logan to even teach one course. That was the result of Ororo being overwhelmed and Hank tricking Logan into a game of pool where the loser had to do what the other wanted for the whole year. Logan had been snookered. Hank had pretended never giving off any scent that he seldom played pool. He wasn't lying. He just neglected to tell Logan he was a teenage pool champ. The game was like buttering toast to Hank. He could win blindfolded.

Danny was always getting picked on at his former human schools. He was the stereotype nerd complete with pocket protector. Logan made him dump that on day one. Several students were now at the school who were human. Most came from families who had no qualms about mutants. They were just pleased their children could get a superior education from the Xavier school.

Remy was grumbling but on his way. In about an hour he was at the boathouse where Logan and Ororo were happy to jump in and get to the mansion. Ororo had plans with Lizzie something they had done every Sunday since Lizzie was two years old. That was to have tea at two PM every Sunday. Baring any threats against the world that is.

Also she wanted to go over the new books for the start of the fall semester and see about the lesson plan for the last three weeks of school. Once classes resumed the following Monday there would be no time. Charles had extended the school holiday to the students due to Scott's arrival.

The shock waves the students were dealing with was amazing. The welcome home party was two weeks behind. But that worked out. Now Scott could attend. Hank's formula was working wonders on his body. He had looked better in just the five days they had found him.

Remy looked tired but happy, smirking at Ororo who hit him as Logan just whispered.

"You break Rouge's heart and I'll kill ya." Remy whispered back.

"I heard that from you already homie, ya say it every week." Logan just arched an eyebrow at him as Ororo folded her arms and watched the two from her back seat shaking her head.

The two caught Ororo's disapproving looks.

"Hey the Cajun started it." Remy laughed his head off at Logan's puppy dog look until he snarled at him. Then Remy found just driving a lot more interesting. That made Ororo have to hide her smirk as she looked at the scenery of the woods in the open air jeep.

Geri Randall was sewing up the last stich of the hem on the cute little party dress that she had made for Lizzie. It was for Friday's party as Ororo Munroe came into the sewing room to get some needles and threads to carry back to the boat house tonight.

"Hey Geri, wow that's so pretty." Ororo was gushing over the lovely pink colored dress that seemed perfect for Lizzie. Geri smiled.

"Since I was a kid I've loved sewing. There's nothing better then making clothes or curtains even sheets when you want to spruce up your home. My mother always said every girl should know how to sew" Ororo laughed.

"Was that so they could catch a husband?" Geri shrugged.

"You got me. I figure it's just cheaper to make your own then pay those crazy prices for designer things." Ororo gasped.

"Don't let Jubilee hear you. You'd give her a coronary." Both women laughed as Lizzie ran in.

"Roro!" She jumped right into Ororo's arms as Ororo hugged her and twirled her around. Geri had to smile as Moira came in.

"Oh how lovely. Geri take our little one and let her try this masterpiece on." Geri smiled as Lizzie clapped hopping up and down and skipping as Geri took her hand and they walked two doors down to her room for Lizzie to try on the dress. Moira turned to Ororo.

"Ya know why I'm here lass." Ororo looked taken aback.

"No why are ya here?" Moira smiled.

"To get you to help me make over our Ms. Randall before the party on Friday night." Ororo laughed and clapped her hands while jumping up and down imitating Lizzie.

"Oh I can't wait."

Meanwhile Logan was taking his private troop through their paces. An hour of heavy lifting in the gym, followed by track then the danger room. The group was improving Logan noted. Although Danny wasn't going to do anything like the X-men work outs with this group, his self defense was improving greatly.

Logan was in better spirits today his troop noted he acted like a weight had been lifted off of him. Peter for one was glad. He wanted Logan as his best man when he and Katya set a date and he knew Kitty wanted Ororo to be her maid of honor so if the two were getting along all the better for them and the X-Men as a whole.

Pete grinned at Bobby as Logan showed Danny several throws that had the former nerd looking like he was a junior X-Men at least. Bobby grinned.

"I guess by next semester this kid will give a few guys a run for their money."

"Da. He has improved greatly since Logan started with him at the beginning of the year." Bobby smiled.

"Ya know Logan's a good teacher when he's in a good mood and not wanting to bite your head off or rip an arm out of you." Peter hard patted Bobby on the back.

"You should be grateful that Marie met Remy shortly after your break up or else he would have ripped out both your arms." Bobby half smiled as Pete walked to get his towel. Then he glared at him remembering how he had to duck Logan for nearly a month until Rouge's demeanor improved thanks to Ororo's Cajun brother and Hank's inhibitor that suppressed her returned powers. The cure wasn't permanent as the government had though.

Scott Summers was being weighted by Hank again. His big grin let Scott know the formula Hank was feeding him plus the solid meals were indeed fattening him up.

"Well my boy you have put on another ten pounds and in short time too. I knew those biscuits of Moira's made with six sticks of butter and those five eggs would add it on as well." Scott stared.

"Let's hope you don't have to roll me out of here Hank. I don't want to be a lard butt okay." Hank laughed.

"I doubt that will ever happen. You do know the physical education teacher is Logan right." Scott looked stunned.

"Logan teaches children?" Hank grinned.

"And adults. In fact I feel he's the one that can best administer your physical therapy and I'll have him start with you in the pool tomorrow afternoon. Judging by the read out your body is quickly healing and taking on more mass. Now muscle build up is needed and who better then the Wolverine." Scott groaned.

"How much do you hate me Hank?" Hank smirked.

"Why Scott as your doctor I only have your best interests at heart and nothing else." Scott cocked his head.

"Right Hank like you did when we were seventeen and you convinced me to dye my hair blonde swearing that chicks dig guys with blonde hair." Hank tried to hold in his laughter.

"How was I to know that the elderly woman at the country market was traumatized by Neo-Nazi's in Germany on her last vacation."

Scott folded his arms.

"Oh I don't know. How about the signs she had plastered all over her shop telling people no Nazi's, White supremacists or Skinheads allowed." Hank laughed out right.

"Everything would have been alright if you hadn't broken your tooth on that hard candy. Every word that came out of your mouth almost sounded like German. The poor woman was in a state when she ran to the back of the store trying to wield that shotgun at you. Thank god for her grandson. I never saw a man grab a gun so fast and lock his own grandmother in the bathroom before." Scott rubbed his head.

"My bad haircut didn't help either. It did look like a buzz cut and damned if I didn't look like a skinhead or Neo-Nazi with those dark shades on. How I ever let Jean talk me into wearing those dark shades I don't know." Hank cleared his throat smirking as he looked at Scott with one eyebrow raised.

"I believe that was close to your upcoming eighteenth birthday." Scott shot him a look.

"Not funny Hank." Scott tried to glare even with his goggles on but started laughing instead. Just as Charles motored in.

The day went pretty fast and smoothly. Moira and Ororo decided to do their make over of Geri tonight after dinner. Logan did his private class and then some maintenance work around the cars and school. Peter and Bobby joined him to assist. Ororo before tea with Lizzie did work in her gardens delighted when she saw the workmen expanding her green house. She did her lesson plans for the next three weeks and had her scheduled tea time with Lizzie.

Scott was being brought up on major events with the professor and told how they would handle their return from the dead. Scenarios had already been thought up by Hank's many contacts with the federal government. The day moved along nicely. Even a fearful Geri was overcome when she saw herself after Moira and Ororo did her makeover.

Her hair was washed and conditioned with a leave-in curl conditioner applied. It made her naturally curly strawberry blond hair looser. That allowed Ororo to lightly brush it allowing it to hang down touching her shoulders. Then light makeup was applied along with a shorter fitted A-line skirt, some kitten heels and a smooth cotton blend short sleeved top that Geri didn't want to wear without her jacket. Both Moira and Ororo were amazed the girl had a rather large bust. Her waist was small though. Her figure was hourglass.

Geri was shocked when they brought her down stairs to the TV room and several male students whistled at her making Geri blush and try to hide behind Moira. When Charles asked her to go down to the lab to assist Hank Geri ran just so she could don her lab coat and hide her figure from male eyes. Didn't stop Hank from telling her she looked great or Scott from noticing she was a grown woman after all.

Geri was happy to get to her room that night. Ororo and Moira assured her that she would get used to the attention. Even Kitty, Jubilee, Rouge and Betsey told her the same thing. Logan and Ororo were getting along at the boat house better actually talking everyday now like two adults without shouting or screaming or storming off. As Friday neared things were going pretty damn smooth at the school.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or their characters. I only own my characters and this work of fiction. Please read and review!

Something Strange Something New

Chapter 6

Friday morning came early. Logan was up and in the kitchen. Ro was coming downstairs. He had her tea on the counter waiting on her. She greeted him warmly.

"Good morning Logan." He was drinking some coffee before speaking.

"Morning Ro. Remy's on his way. Seems the mansion likes us to eat our breakfast with them now." Ororo smirked.

"That's only because this is a busy week. The school year is ending and tonight is the party. I have to help Moira, Geri and everyone else with the preparations for tonight. You do know about the after party downtown right?" Logan grinned. Since Scott's return and that first weekend. He and Ro were getting along great. He liked living in this home with her. It seemed she did too

"There was no way for me to forget. Hank kept reminding me, then Peter then Bobby. Even Marie came by the gym to make sure I had my tux for tonight." Ororo laughed.

She was picking up her tote bag. She had her end of semester notebooks inside. Her last class was next Friday and it was a tradition that the teachers at Xavier's gave their students end of the year gifts. Ororo had to make sure her order was in today. Hank would have Geri pick up the small pocket gifts each teacher gave their students next week.

"Well I know from Moira that Charles picked a very posh setting for tonight's after party. He wants us all to know how much we mean to him. It's always been Charles' way. He likes to let us know how much he loves and cares for us."

Logan smirked as he rinsed out his cup.

"Like that ain't hard to tell. He never lets up about how important we all are to him. I think since Chuck came back to us he's making it his mission to let us know how much he cares about us." Ororo stared at Logan.

"Can you blame him? He did nearly die like poor Scott. We're just blessed to have them both back. I am so grateful to the Goddess for giving me back them both."

Logan noted the wistful sound to Ororo's voice. She was glad and happy to have them both back. She didn't feel alone anymore. It still ate at him that he had not been there for her before. He knew that was never going to happen again. She drank her tea smiling. She looked at him.

"Thank you for making my tea. You always get it right. That is amazing because no one not even Jean could do that." Logan grinned.  
"Just shows that I can pay attention." He stared at her eyes. She looked a little nervous then the honk of Remy's jeep was heard. They both headed for the door. Logan held it open for Ororo.

Ororo and Logan were both seated in Remy's jeep as he grinned like a cat at both of them.

"What's with you Cajun?" Logan asked. Ororo just arched an eyebrow at him. She was seated in the back seat. Logan sat upfront with Remy. The jeep was open air. Remy gave Ororo a please don't be angry look.

"Chere, I ask you now to forgive your padat for not telling you earlier." Ororo stared and eyed Remy harder.

"What are you apologizing about brother?" Remy grinned.

"Last night I asked Marie to be my wife and she said yes." Logan and Ororo were stunned speechless for all of three minutes. Ororo regained her senses first.

"Oh Remy I'm so happy for you. Now you two can be the family I know you always wanted to be." Ororo reached over and kissed his cheek. Logan sat with his arms folded and eyed Remy.

Both Ororo and Remy glanced at Logan. Ororo squeezed her eyes shut and Remy gulped ready for Logan's outburst.

"So ya finally decided to make an honest woman out of her? Took you long enough Gumbo." Logan extended his hand for a hardy handshake then he good naturedly smacked Remy hard on his shoulder, nearing making Remy lose control of the jeep.

Ororo had to cover her mouth to hide her smile and need to laugh. The two men looked so uncomfortable but she sensed both were pleased Logan took it so well and Remy had done the right thing.

Since the inhibitor was made by Hank for Rouge and Kurt. Mainly to hide his appearance to non-mutants. Their lives had improved greatly. Kurt was back in Germany studying at the seminary. Rouge had been freed to take her relationship to the next level.

All this had occurred over the last two years. Remy and Rouge had saw no need to get married then, much to Logan's disapproval. He may not have been Marie's father but he sure acted the part.

Scaring poor Remy straight to Ororo's office when Logan wanted to gut the Cajun for not making Marie an honest woman and not just another notch on his belt. Ororo and Logan had argued over this subject too many times. Those times they did speak. Which back then was just shouting matches. They usually terminated when Ororo walked away angry or Logan rode off pissed.

They always ended with her reminding him, how can the pot call the kettle black. Logan was known for his one night only bar women and he usually got in a snit over that. He never brought them to the mansion, but the smell of their cheap perfume wafted from his body and clothes until he showered. It was always apparent where he had been for the night. Ororo even pointed out if Marie was happy just be happy for her.

Ororo grinned. Maybe the fact that she and Logan were civil to one another now and actually sat down every night they returned to the boat house and talked helped. Mostly they talked about what happened at school that day and even about her greenhouse or even the status of his private classes. It was all helping.

In fact last night had been all about the next semester which was to happen in September, three months away. Logan was a good listener and he had several insightful things to add to what she had planned so far for her course. He recommended some surprisingly good books for her to have her students read. Ororo had even thanked him for the ideas and the book referrals.  
Logan sat watching as they finally approached the school. He would get Marie alone and talk to her. He wondered if she wasn't getting engaged because Pete and Kitty were. He also wondered if she didn't pressure the Cajun.

He was happy for her sure but he wanted to make sure she was happy and really ready to be with Gumbo for the rest of her life. Logan looked over at the smiling demon eyed mutant as he drove to the schools back door and parked near the kitchen.

Every weekday morning since they moved into the boathouse, like Logan said, Ororo and he were picked up early for breakfast at the school. Mostly to help get things in order for the closing of it in the next couple of weeks. Now just a week more to go. With Scott's return as well as the professor's the school was a little crazy.

Not to mention they had two human teachers who were going out on leave. Ms. Scarbourgh and Mr. MacDonald had met at the school two years ago and married just a year after dating. Now they were expecting and first time father Mr. MacDonald wanted to show his pregnant wife his homeland in Scotland. She in turn would be taking him to her family home in Sumter South Carolina.

The lovely brown skinned beauty and the dark haired handsome Scotsman had fallen in love almost at first site. The school had been abuzz when he had purposed during her sixth period English class. Ororo of course couldn't say no. After all her parents had taken her to her mother's home land when she was a baby herself.

Their looming departure just meant more work for the returning teachers come the fall. Both had been two of the most popular human teachers ever at the school. The children had fallen in love with them both. When they became a couple it was the stuff of romance novels for the female population at the school.

Even Ororo found herself a little envious of the two. It never lasted long because they were just so happy and sweet together. Even Hank would grin watching them together.

The heavy brogue of Mr. MacDonald was always so pronounced when ever was near. It took Hank all of two minutes to conclude early on that the man was smitten. Ororo had even befriended Loretta MacDonald.

She was a true southern lady. Just two inches shorter then Ororo. A figure that was hourglasses shaped to say the least. Loretta always lamented about what she perceived as her large rear end. The males at the school didn't.

She was very attractive with deep dark brown eyes, a curt nose, high cheekbones, full lips and thick curly black hair. Even Logan had stared at her the first day he met her. She in turn didn't seem at all fazed by the feral man. Her main concern had been the students.

She adored them. They adored her and Walter MacDonald seemed to adore her from the moment Hank introduced them. They had arrived just a day apart for their new jobs here. As live in teachers they had no choice but to hang out as the kids say.

Walter was tall with dark black hair and these sea green eyes that caught everything in his class. Plus as Marie put it he worked out a lot and it showed. He was a man who believed in keeping fit. His father had died from overeating, overdrinking and overestimating his ability to live pass the age of fifty-two.

He died from a massive stroke. Walter didn't relish the same fate. He found himself always around Loretta. She made him laugh and smile. She liked keeping fit as well. The two were often seen walking the grounds or jogging together.

The other teachers were abuzz with the talk of the two always being together. Ororo had been very busy back then. But when they became engaged she helped to plan the party for them.

The wedding took place in Loretta's hometown. Now they were in Scotland, having taken last an early leave to go before the end of the school year. Ororo missed Loretta. She was kind and sweet and could bake a mean sweet potato pie. Ororo and the school had fallen in love with that sweet potato pie.

So being that Ororo and Xavier were anal, plans were being done now so no problems would occur by the first day of school. The MacDonald's were due to return by next year. Charles was planning on building a private home on the side of the mansion just for them and their new addition.

Speaking of anal Logan figured one-eye would be glad for tonight. Along with his private class he had been giving Scott hell with the physical therapy. Pushing the former leader of the X-men so hard he nearly cried on day one.

Logan wanted him to use the muscles that he once took for granted to a point were only a rub down Ororo gave him helped. Then a long steam bath to get the kinks out. For the last two days Ro had been doing them. Hank always had some student with an emergency or a project pop up. Logan didn't like Ro giving one-eye the rubdown. Even if they were like brother and sister as Ro put it.

He knew Jean was gone now and Scott may look like a boy scout but he was still a man. Logan had caught how he eyed Ms. Randall. Her makeover made her look like she should he figured. But to Logan she was still a kid.

Scott on the other hand was free and single. Logan though they'd make a good couple. She was cute, Scott was single. He got out of the jeep. Before Gumbo could get to Ororo to help her down. Logan just picked Ro up and set her down. Causing Ro and Remy to stare as Ro breathed out a stunned.

"Thank you." Making Remy grin while Ororo walked inside. When Geri came to the door to greet her.

"Ororo come inside. You'll never believe the news we've got to tell you." Ororo grinned as she walked in.

"Wanna bet." Remy spoke to Logan as he headed towards the garage.

"Well well Remy knew you be upset, but I never figure maybe ya mad cause ya not there yet with my Stormy." Logan glared at him.

"Ro and I are friends Cajun. We're working out our problems and as you can see it's working so far. As to your two bit analysis as to my being upset. I'm not. I'm gonna speak to Marie later on today. So no worries there at least for me. Why you got something ya don't want me to speak to Marie about?" Remy tilted his head as he looked at Logan.

"Don't play naive with me. I know you like my Stormy. I saw how ya react to Scott having her do his backrubs cause Hank was busy and we all know ya got feelings for her." Logan pulled out a beer from the fridge in the garage

"Yeah, so what. I'm giving Ro time to see if she's developing any for me. I figure I'll wait her out a bit." He drank some beer. Remy grabbed one as well.

"So what if she don't." Logan grinned.

"Then I would know before the rest of ya do." Remy swallowed before asking.

"And just how would you know what Stormy feels or non?" Logan pointed to his hawk shaped nose.

"Cause of this. I ain't feral for nothing. I can smell Rouge all over you. Judging by the scent I'd say she was over the moon about your proposal last night." Remy choked.

"Your nose is nosey homie. Stop smelling me." Logan burst into laughter.

Inside Moira and Geri soon were joined by Jubilee and Kitty. Ororo had taken the air out of their breaking news on the Remy and Marie engagement.  
Moira snorted as she made first Ororo's plate and then Jubilee's and Kitty. Lizzie came in for just some Orange juice cause she was thirsty.

The younger students always were fed first. Once she drank, sang her hellos and got her hugs, she was off to go play with some of the other young girls on the play set Ororo had Logan build several years earlier.

"Figures the Cajun would tell you first thing before Marie tells us." Ororo giggled. Eating her French toast and munching on some turkey sausage before she responded.

"Moira Remy is my brother and of course he's going to tell me. He had to pick up Logan and I first thing this morning. He always tells me about major events in his life. We're family. He elected to be the one to pick us up every morning since Charles won't allow us to have one of the cars." Ororo sipped her tea. Moira snorted. Ororo went on.

"Besides you know that's there's a great deal of work to be done for the coming semester. Charles has only been back a short time and I have to show him many of the things that we have done and the plans that were made for the school." Moira sat down drinking her coffee.

"Oh please Charles can read your mind faster and get all the information he needs. You two just like doing extra work." Geri grinned as Jubilee jumped in.

"Is that so you don't have to pay any attention to how Wolvie likes to keep all the guys away from you?" Kitty snorted. Ororo nearly choked on her food.

"What!" Ororo was getting pats on her back as Moira, Kitty and Jubilee laughed. Kitty smiled.

"Be honest Ororo you're not dense. You've seen how he's been reacting to your daily back rubs on Mr. Summers." Geri grinned as the realization dawned on her.

"Oh so that's why Hank asked me to do the back rub today. He's tied up in some project and wants me to give Scott the rubdown. He said that Logan would prefer it if I did the back rubs instead of you." Ororo's eyes went wide but she said nothing. Just sat eating her food. Then silently drank her tea. Moira smiled.

"Oh so now the silent treatment." Kitty laughed.

"Admit it you like Logan and you're enjoying his attention even if you may not want to like it." Moira snorted. She caught the faint smile on Ororo's face.

"So that's why you won't talk uhh. You know you're warming up to him." Ororo placed her napkin on her lap after wiping her mouth.

"I have no idea as to what any of you are talking about." Kitty folded her arms exposing her ring finger where her ring hit the sunlight coming from the window just behind Ororo.

"Right. You feel nothing for Logan. That's why he's leaving you alone." Ororo stared into Kitty's eyes.

"He can't leave me alone. Exactly. We room together at the boathouse. We talk now and Logan is a very smart and interesting man." Moira laughed.

"Yes when I saw him bare chested working on one of the cars last night. I though Moira now there's an interesting man." Jubilee started laughing. Moira went on.

"His ruggedly handsome good looks and that body with muscles bulging every where never crossed my mind. Not that I a woman of a certain age would notice anything like a man with jet black hair and dusty dark skin covered in hair." Now Geri and Kitty started giggling. Moira kept a straight face as Ro tried to finish her breakfast.

"A man Whose entire body looks like muscle built on top of muscle. Who could slam dunk the entire British army one handed. No why would I notice him? Why would any women still breathing?" The girls were all laughing except Ro who was trying not to. Then Jubilee interjected.

"Right and who would notice those smoldering gray colored eyes. Even the way he stares at you like he's in heat." Ororo nearly fell out of her seat choking. Geri had to pat her back. Then Kitty spoke again.

"You know I've never seen Logan with pale skin. How does he stay so tanned all year long?" Jubilee spoke up.

"I think Logan has been around for so long that his skin is like leather in color because of it." Moira laughed.

"How ever the man does it, it works. I myself usually don't find hairy men attractive. Or even men so dark looking from the sun but he has just enough coating on that chest that I do find him very attractive. He fits the dark handsome type so well that it's enough to make a woman forget what she does like."

Ororo looked at her stunned. That caused all the women to start laughing as the object of their discussion walked in with Remy right behind him. The men stared at the laughing women. The giggles died down as the whole room got quite. Geri spoke first.

"Well I have to help Hank with some things today and then the party prep. Bye." She was getting up putting her dishes away and flying out the door. Kitty and Jubilee were next.

"Yes Kitty, we promised Marie that we'd help with the party foods and she wants to hit the supermarket today." Remy spoke up.

"Where is my Chere?" Kitty smiled as she and Jubilee headed for the door.

"In with the professor. I think they're having a heartfelt." Remy grinned.

"Ahh I go join my chere then." He pecked Ororo on her cheek as he left following the duo. Moira made to stand when Ororo jumped up with her.

"You haven't finished your breakfast Lass?" Moira smiled evilly. Ororo glared at her. Moira snorted glancing at Logan who was at the stove getting some eggs and ham along with the French toast and sausage.

"I'm not that hungry anyway. I need to see how the work is going on in my greenhouse and I need to assist with the party decorations."

Moira laughed as Logan came to the table staring at them both but mostly Ro. He was quiet as he watched her. She was moving fast to empty her plate and cup in the sink before placing them in the dish washer. Then she and Moira waved a hasty good bye to Logan. He snorted as he ate his food laughing to himself. He'd heard every word they'd said even as Remy was talking his ear off in the garage.

'Hell maybe I'll go shirtless more often.' He though as he ate slowly.

The morning flew by quickly and Logan soon found himself working Scott Summers hard in the mansion's indoor pool. By the end of their water session Scott was aching. But he found he was able to walk more with just the light cane to lean on instead of the crutches he'd had three days earlier. Hank's souped-up formula personally designed for Scott's DNA was a wonder drug.

Hank was working on perfecting it for both human and mutant alike. Scott was heaving for a shorter time too Logan noted. His lungs were quickly allowing him to take on more laps. His muscle mass had grown as well. You could see the changes in his body more each day. When Hank had measured him this morning his body muscle had increased by a inch and a half overnight. The results were all music to Hank's ears.

Logan had Scott do weights in the pool by strapping tie on weights to his arms and legs to build more body mass. By next week he figured Scott would look like his old self again. He wasn't as gaunt as he was when they'd found him. Already he was a hell of a lot more fleshed out. Hank was a certified genius. After the pool work-out Logan helped Scott out of the pool. Both men rested seated on the edge of the pool breathing slowly.

"So Logan what's this all about you and Ro living at the boat house together?" Logan flinched and Scott caught it.

"Ya heard about that uhh?" Scott grinned liking the uneasiness on Logan's face.

"Hey this is XU isn't it. There are no secrets here. Every thing that happens here is reported faster then the CIA can gather intelligence." Logan smirked.

"Yeah that's true. So ya no doubt know why. Me and Ro were having some problems due to what ya learned about from Hank and the professor." Scott grinned.

"And to think all that time you spent chasing Jean was just because she looked a lot like this Rose from nearly two centuries ago. Boy Jean would have been stunned. Go figure, you wasted all that time on Jean when you should have been after Ororo." Logan stared stunned at Scott's bluntness causing Scott to laugh.

"Hey just cause I wear goggles doesn't make me blind does it?" Logan looked at Scott then smiled.

"No you're not blind One-eye, that would be me when I first got here." Scott snickered.

"You mean when Ororo and I rescued you and Marie. I remember it was she that put out the fire in your truck that enabled me to get Marie out as you were knocked out by Sabretooth." Logan laughed.

"I vaguely remember that part." Scott laughed.

"Right. Let's find Sabretooth and see if he remembers."

"Yeah let's not." Logan grunted as he wiped down before heading for the showers. Scott smirked. It felt good to watch Logan be uneasy about a woman he couldn't get a handle on.

The day progressed quickly the students, teachers and all the staff going about the day getting training done, having classes outdoors, readying the grand hall for the party, prepping the vast amount of food and drinks. Everyone had a job to do today and it was getting done.

Geri Randall found herself putting up the banner that welcomed both the professor and Scott back into the fold. Bobby was assisting her. Ororo and Moira were dressing up the large cake that Moira had baked for the party tonight before placing it into the walk-in freezer.

Ororo then made sure that Marie and the girls had gotten enough ice cream to go with the cake. Kitty was placing all the toppings such as the cherries, bananas, sprinkles and whipped cream in the self-service area that Geri had prepared for the large buffet tonight.

The foods were going to be both hot and cold with plenty of salads and veggies for those who did not eat meat. The dance floor was being buffed by Peter who made the job go fast as he easily handled the large buffer with no problem. Then Bobby, was put to work frosting the bowls that the punches would be made in. Then making ice cubes in various shapes so that the younger kids would enjoy the funny shapes.

Finally he made the large ice sculpture. A life size likeness of both Charles and Scott looking very much like they were pleased to be back among their family. Ororo smiled as she looked around the hall. There were human and mutant students and staff working and laughing together. It made the professor's dream seem more real as she placed the many plants around the hall.

The theme was the good ole summertime which Geri though of and all though no period dressing would be done, the hall had an old fashioned fountain in which the ice cream and cake with toppings would be served. The tables and chairs were all made like they would have looked in the early twentieth century.

Ororo loved the draping of white linen fabric that Geri had made into large round roses in the center. With assistance from the girls she had placed the excess material wonderfully over the walls and entrances. The flowered plants made the room seem like an out door park.

A giant gazebo was where the DJ would play. Peter had set up the tall evergreen potted plants for Ororo all around the hall. The smell of the outdoors seemed to cleanse the air in the hall making everyone working inside feel lighter and happier.

The addition of the skylights that Ororo had placed in the hall over a year ago provided a lot of natural sunlight cutting the cost of lighting for the school in half. She now found herself putting lots of ivy all around the upper part of the walls and adding moss with small flowered plants that fit just inside the moss adding a multiple colored appeal to the hall.

By the time they were finished the place looked amazing. Charles found himself watching from the grand balcony up above. Geri had a good eye for what would work in the hall and it looked grand with all the help from the staff and students. He turned his chair out of the hall and summoned Ororo. Her additional space for the green house was finished and he wanted her to see how much bigger it now was.

As Ororo went with the professor's to see her enlarged green house. Logan was seated at the far side of the estate with Marie now gleefully telling him how Remy purposed to her last night.

"I know your still wrapping your head around it Logan. But I love Remy and I know he loves me. Besides it ain't like we're getting married right away. We can be together now thanks to Hank's inhibitor collar. I hear he's making it smaller so that I can wear it as a bracelet or earring." Logan flinched when Marie said together so she smacked him on his arm and kept talking.

"I'm a grown up now you know and Remy makes me feel like a woman. I never felt as secure with Bobby as I do with Remy." Logan grunted sitting with his arms folded across his chest with his stogie hanging out the side of his mouth.

He had let Marie tell him her true feelings about the Cajun's proposal and said little to nothing for the whole hour and a half that they had been out here. Marie was used to Logan's grunts and growls and could interrupt them as either he approved or didn't. So far she was reading his body and temperament as even. Finally Logan spoke.

"So ya really wanna marry that Cajun uhh?" Marie laughed.

"Yes I do, just not right away mind yah. Me and Remy are thinking maybe in two years or so. we want to visit with his family in New Orleans and you know get to see what it is we want first before we get married." Logan grunted again and puffed hard on his cigar as he spoke.

"All right I get it. Ya love him but ya wanna see how the two of you are going to be as a couple first before the long haul. Ya scared a little maybe?" Marie smiled.

"Yeah, maybe. Remy is older and I'm not so worldly as him but I love him and I know he loves me. I just wanna see how we fit first and if we have the same goals in mind." Logan grinned as he tussled Marie's hair getting her to flay her arms about her head trying to fix the mess he made with her hair.

"Alright kid so long as ya know what it is ya want." Marie grinned giving Logan a big hug as Remy walked up on the duo.

"Whoa whoa don't be hugging another man chere, you break Remy's heart." He was grinning as a laughing Rouge jumped up to greet him.

"What other man? I was just hugging Logan." Logan stood up.

"Great and on that note I'm outta here." He began walking towards the mansion several hundred feet away. Remy kissed Rouge then asked her.

"So did you bring up my Stormy?" Marie sighed as Remy hugged her.

"No I didn't. I figure that's one he'll have to figure out for himself. I know Logan and he'll make a move in the right direction. Besides with his nose he can figure out how to do what needs to be done." Remy smiled as they watched Logan heading towards the mansion.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or Fox, nor any of their characters. I only own my story and characters. I still make no money from this. Life is unfair

SOMETHING STRANGE, SOMETHING NEW

Chapter 7

The grand hall looked just that. Scott Summers thought as he stood looking at the way it was decorated and how it smelled so good. He wore a tailored tux that the professor had made for his ever recovering body.

He was still a little underweight for his regular tux and strangely Hank's DNA cocktail had made him a full inch taller. That was something Scott didn't mind at all as he walked around the hall smiling at how good everything looked. Even with the cane he found that he leaned on it less then he did yesterday.

Then Geri walked in followed by Lizzie. Who looked adorable in her pink flowing dress. Scott watched as Lizzie called herself helping Geri who was making sure all the buffet foods were kept hot in their warmers.

She adjusted the heat on the hot food and checked on the cold food. Lizzie spotted Scott and waved tugging on Geri's lace accented cocktail dress that had a sweetheart neckline and an asymmetrical bottom. It was an off white number that was styled in the era of the early nineteen hundreds.

Only thank God with out the need for a bustle and other cumbersome underwear. Geri's figure looked good in it. The dress showed off her shapely hour glass figure. A pair of fine thick shapely legs. They showed she walked a lot. With that full bust that Scott noted suited her body shape well.

Her strawberry blonde curls were relaxed and in an up sweep that allowed tendril's to fall around her face and neck. She looked up and smiled at him. Lizzie was giggling as she watched them. Scott took that as a cue to walk over to them.

Ororo was up in her attic room. She had brought the red gown with her from the boathouse. No one had seen it because she had ordered it at a fashion house in N.Y. A very elusive fashion house where it had been custom fitted on her when she had to run there via the jet late one afternoon several months earlier. Ororo had brought the gown on impulse and had had it fitted to her almost like a second skin.

Thanks to the Nanny she'd had to refit it once again to her bigger body shape but it fit her surprisingly well. It squeezed some areas of her body but she could sit and move in it. Besides she had let out some more parts already, doing her sewing in her room at the boathouse. Out of Logan's site of course.

She didn't know when she bought it at the time when she'd wear it. The party this afternoon was for the kids. Maybe later tonight she would at the after party. Moira had hinted that the party was at the elusive club Che Martin downtown. So for now the light blue dress that just hit her calves with the matching blue suede shoes that she had bought from the same shop would do.

The red pair she would wear later on tonight with the red dress. She donned the dress and the shoes putting her hair up in a topknot and placing on her silver shell earrings as she adjusted the light makeup she had put on and made her way downstairs. The party was going full swing.

Scott was dancing with Lizzie in his arms. Hank was doing some kind of jitterbug with one of the older students. Ororo walked over to the professor who was seated at one of the tables with Moira and hugged them both. She spoke to them for a while then she drifted around the room talking to Kitty and Peter. Rouge and Remy paused in their dancing to talk to her. She noted how well everyone looked dressed in their cocktail hour finest.

One pair of eyes watched Ororo as she gilded around the room and helped several teenagers get the food drooled out with Geri coming to assist. Scott was not far behind. Logan grunted as he grinned. He'd figured Geri was more Scott's type. She wasn't a redhead but strawberry blonde was close enough. She was a little bigger in the boobs then Jeannie had been but that had to be a plus for Scott.

Logan's main focus was on Ororo. She looked good in the light blue dress and those light blue pumps were nice too. Showed off those great legs. They made her look long and elegant as she moved like the wind around the room. She had her hair up and Logan liked it looser on her.

As Ororo walked pass him he put his hand out and took her by her arm pulling her close to him. He glided her out on to the floor. Ororo was too stunned to speak as they danced to a slow jam. Scott who had Geri in his arms, winked at Logan making Ororo eye them both.

Moira she noticed was laughing with Charles as they toasted them. Hank was dancing around the hall with a giggling Lizzie who was having a ball. Kitty and Peter were too wrapped up in each other to notice anybody else. Rouge and Remy were grinning at Ororo and Logan. Ororo stared wide-eyed at her Cajun brother as he gave her a thumbs up.

The music was slow and mellow. Ororo half looked up at a grinning Logan. He smoothly danced her around the floor. It surprised her that he moved so well to the music. She never knew he could dance. He was never around long enough for her to find out. He smiled catching her sneaking a peek at him.

"Never knew I could dance uhh?" Ororo tried to play it off as nonchalantly as she could replying.

"I half expected you to be able to dance Logan. Just never thought I'd see it. It's odd to experience it as well." Logan grunted.

He pulled her in closer and gave her a slow dip and then twirled her in his arms after he pulled her up and spun her out. Then back again for another dip. Ororo had to laugh as Logan flowed with her around the dance floor.

"I must admit I really didn't expect you to dance so well. You're very light on your feet Logan." He laughed.

"Not too bad for a man who weighs over three hundred pounds." Ororo grinned. They danced around the floor gracefully.

The students and staff were all enjoying themselves. Charles danced around with Moira in his wheelchair. Hank finally danced with one of the non-mutant teachers who was a grown woman and not a little girl.

The party was great and by ten-thirty the younger students were fading fast as they all had to cover yawns. Closing their eyes as they battled to stay awake. Lizzie zonked out shortly after Scott had danced her around on another slow jam and was taken to her room by both him and Geri. Pretty soon only a small portion of the student body was still awake. Many were fighting to keep their eyes open.

At eleven-thirty only the staff and adult students remained and that's when most went to change for the after party at Che Martin. The rest called it a night. Ororo, Kitty, Moira, Marie and Geri all went to change. The youngest X-men Jubilee called it a night.

Mainly due to her eyelids and age doing her in. Not to mention about five pounds of cake and ice cream that had topped off her four hotdogs, six chicken wings, three hamburgers, two large pizza slices, two large chili hotdogs, three milk shakes, two cones of double drip chocolate and an extra large soda.

Jubilee had to be helped to bed with one of Hank's stomach med's by a day teacher. Betsey and Warren had decided to stay at the mansion to help watch the kids along with several other teachers. The students all looked happy and content. Going to their rooms wore out and tired. The welcome back party had been a great success.

The group that was going to the club were mainly the X-men, Charles, Hank, Scott, Peter, Bobby, Marie, Kitty, Ororo, Remy and Logan. The day teacher Ms. Alice Goody was invited by Bobby to accompany him so he wouldn't be the odd man out. Hank had asked Ms. Sharpton a friend of his from D.C. to met them at the club. He was wearing his image inducer. He liked blending in when not at the school or on a mission.

Ororo was in pure anguish, dying to met her. Hank never talked much about his ladylove and that made Ro want to know more. She donned her dress. The red one. She took down her curled hair. Brushing it into lose waves that she wore with her hair down. The other ladies entered her attic room talking. Bobby's date along with them. All their talking stopped as they took in Ro's dress and her now loose hair. Ororo stared at them looking confused and worried.

"What? Do I look fat in this? I had to make some adjustments due to my larger frame but I thought it looked alright." Moira laughed.

"Well my dear, looking like that is not gonna make Logan not notice you." Rouge fixed her hair staring in Ro's large mirror.

"With you in that dress we're all gonna have to step up our game." Geri pulled out a sewing kit.

"Okay so who wants their dress sewn on them?" Five sets of hands all went up as Ororo burst out laughing.

Charles Xavier was in good spirits. He and Scott stood outside the front of the mansion. They were with the rest of the men awaiting the ladies. Scott was pleased that so much had happened at the school where the mutants and humans didn't fight with each other or fear one another.

Logan was just smoking a cigar. Hank was talking in whispers on his cell phone. Remy smoked one of his rolled cigarettes while Peter and Bobby talked sports. The limo's pulled up and the ladies stepped out on to the large porch. Every man stopped talking and smoking to stare gape mouthed at the women. They all looked like they'd just stepped off the runways of Paris.

Logan actually lost his stogie as it dropped out of his mouth when he spotted Ro. Her red dress was fitted to a T and the low cut neckline was amazing to him. Her breasts were encased in the bodice accenting their large size. Even her small waistline and curved butt were showcased in this dress.

He couldn't knock the grin off his face as he stared. She even had her hair lose and puffed up. She looked like a true Goddess. In fact every man standing on the porch stared. As the other ladies came out all of them looked like they had stepped up their game tonight. Remy actually had to wipe some drool that formed on his mouth after seeing Marie now dressed in a tight black dress that had actual cutouts on the sides and back. The front was low cut too.

Even Kitty who was dressed in a figure hugging shimmering brown gown that had a split that rode up pass her thigh and a back that was cut down to just above her butt crack. Peter was by her side faster then Quicksilver himself could move. Scott looked at Logan. Then every man eyed each other and then the ladies. All of them wondering when in the hell did they all had the time to pick up designer gowns in the last four hours.

Only Geri looked very Grace Kelly in a white gown. It was high collared but fitted to her form like it was painted on. She had a modest split on the side with a jeweled collar and arm cuffs. Her curly hair was still pined up but accented with a matching jeweled hairpin. Moira had loaned it to her for the night.

Scott was pleased as he walked right over to her and took her hand. That made Logan, Ororo and Charles all smile. Bobby's date Ms. Goody looked good enough to eat in a green evening gown that was form fitting with a plunging neck and back. Two side splits showed off her very shapely legs. He couldn't stop smiling as he took her hand.

Breaking the stunned silence Charles spoke as he smiled looking at Moira in her shape fitting dark blue gown with rhinestones that trailed her curves and had a back split that exposed her shapely legs. Her hair was lying to the side in a very Veronica Lake or even Lauren Bacall fashion.

"I must say, never have I seen so many beautiful women all together at the same time. My the Gods must be crazy to have let you all leave heaven."

The ladies all laughed. Logan was by Ro's side and was gliding her by her small waist to the one of the Limo's. The drivers both wore what appeared to be the biggest grins Logan had ever seen.

Yes the women of the X-men looked good. Scott grinned as he helped Geri inside after Logan. Bobby spoke up.

"People I feel that tonight will be a night to remember." All in the Limo including Charles, Hank and Moira all smiled. The rest were in the other Limo.

By the time they all reached Che Martin the party was in full swing. Each limo came equipped with a stocked bar. Remy, Logan and even Scott, Peter and Bobby along with Hank had no problem pouring drinks. By the time the group arrived at the club, the Xavier party was feeling no pain.

The club was posh and very elusive. The private room that Charles had booked was decked out with a live band that was playing as everyone hit the dance floor. Ororo couldn't believe how wonderful everything looked. By the time they all got seated after dancing. Charles was seated by Moira's side at the head of their large table. Ms. Dorothy Elizabeth Sharpton, Hank's date was already there. She was affectionately called Tess by Hank. Ororo was pleased to meet her.

She was just a few inches shorter then Hank. She was quite lovely. Her features were stunning. She was regal and had these amazing cheekbones and her eyes were almost as cat-like as Ororo's. Logan did a double take when he saw her.

Her clear brown eyes and dusty dark skin spoke of someone whose parentage came from Africa. Ororo was doubly delighted to find that her mother was a textile designer from Kenya and her father an African-American magazine publisher from Atlanta Georgia. The two had met while in college and married shortly after.

Dorothy and Hank had met when he was in D.C. and she was working at the hospital near his former offices. She was an administrator at the hospital. The two became friends by the simple fact that they often found themselves at lunch everyday at the same time. They had struck up a friendship from finding themselves together so often. That had led to date nights and now a quiet but growing relationship.

She wore her hair in a very elegant braided style. The braids were thick and made to look as though she wore a crown on her head. She wore a gown that was native to her mother's country. It was a print embossed with rhinestones and made from a light pink silk. The design on it was native to her mother's people in Kenya. She looked amazing. Her eyes lit up whenever she looked at Hank.

Hank seemed very pleased and judging by the way they held hands Ororo knew the feelings were mutual. The tell tale signs were there. Hank had that starry eyed look about him. Dorothy had that cute little quirk of constantly brushing up against him as they stood talking. It spoke volumes of how close the two were.

Logan couldn't get the grin off his face as he stayed close to Ro. She took his breath away. She was turning the heads of every man in the club when they all had entered. The group had passed through the club's front way bypassing patrons who all gawked open mouthed at the women. Ororo seemed to command the most attention of both male patrons and staff. It was like she was glowing and he felt himself drawn to her. He was sticking to her side like glue.

Ororo didn't seem to mind or notice. She just seemed more relaxed with him near. Neither one noting how Charles and Moira watched them smiling. Moira couldn't get the smirk off her face. Charles was nearly beaming.

After all the introductions were made. Charles dinged his wine glass to make an announcement.

"Everyone now that I have your attention. I booked this little after party to let you all know how very happy I am to be back with my family again. I am especially pleased to have Scott back as well. I just wanted you all to know how much I treasure you all and how I care very deeply for you." Moira smiled as she squeezed Charles' hand.

"In front of you all are envelopes. Inside are shares to the school. Each member of our family is now a shareholder in Xavier's. Because that is what you all are to me, my family. Our family."

Logan felt his jaw drop. Judging by the looks all around the table they all did. Chuck just gave them all shares to the school. Logan never had any shares to anything before in his life since he ran from his home so long ago. He opened his envelope just as Ororo and the rest opened theirs.

Each person had at least five hundred shares in the school. Ms. Goody nearly fainted. Bobby had to hold the shaking young woman. She looked shocked and amazed. The weirdest thing was that the shares all had the names of the people present like Charles knew who would be coming.

Ororo looked tearful. Logan could sense no sadness. But he did know she was emotional. He held her shaking hand. Moira looked speechless. She stared at Charles who just smiled. He knew they would all be stunned. He also knew that those present tonight cared deeply for the school no matter what may come in the future.

Alice Goody was the youngest teacher at the school. She was the same age as Bobby. She had gone through school in a whirlwind. Out doing many and being promoted several grades until she left college and grad school at the tender age of nineteen. She came to Xavier's' because she was outraged by all the mutant hate.

Her youngest cousin had been a mutant. He was killed by a mob on the streets of her small town simply because of it. He had been born with a mutation that formed cone shaped objects on his body. He was shunned by many who hated and feared him. He was odd to them. They feared his being different. So he was hunted and killed by a mob of angry, fearful and hateful people who took out their failure to reason on an unharmed mutant child.

He had had a hard time growing up. She had been his only friend. She never shunned him and always loved him. He was killed when both were seventeen. She had been away at school at the time. She was devastated when her mother had called her to tell her the news. None of the mob was ever arrested. That had made her resolve to end mutant hatred flare up like a beacon. Charles knew she would fight until her last breath to stop anyone from going through what her late cousin had.

Bobby was beaming as he talked to her. She was happy and tearful. Even Scott looked stunned. Geri looked at Moira and Charles smiling brightly at them both. She was happy at Xavier's. And the wink that Moira gave Charles told him that the main reason why was seated right next to her. Scott and Geri looked like a new young couple. Hank sat beaming with a stunned and surprised Dorothy. Her name was on her shares as well. She gave Hank a sweet kiss on his cheek. He actually managed to turn even bluer.

The party went on with Remy asking Ororo for a dance. That almost made Logan growl but Marie grabbed him out on to the floor. Remy was enjoying asking his 'Stormy' about how the ole Wolverine is to live with.

"So Stormy how is it living with the Wolverine? Any major fights lately?" He was smirking. Ororo glared at him half smiling.

"No fights. And living with Logan is surprisingly good. I mean we get along just fine. He even knows how to make my tea." Remy stared wide eyed at her.

"The Wolverine makes you tea?" Ororo laughed.

"Yes and he cooks and cleans too. Not too mention gardening." Remy danced her around. His mouth wide open with stunned amazement.

"The Wolverine was gardening?" He looked over at a smiling Marie and a laughing Logan dancing around the room.

"We talking about the same man chere? That man dancing with my bell? He gardens? That man." He extended a long finger at Logan. Ororo was nodding her head. The laughter fighting to come out of her.

"Shocking isn't it? A man over two hundred years old and he can make tea, cook, clean and even garden like normal people. How could he have learned to do all that? In just over two hundred years. My it makes me wonder." Remy gave his 'sister' his raised eyebrow. That never failed to make her laugh out loud.

Hank had Dorothy on the floor. The two looked very good together. The night called for fun. Finally after the first set Ororo found herself in Logan's arms again. She caught the smirk that played across his face. Bobby had been coming to interrupt but one look at the fierce face Logan gave him and Icepop was back with his date.

Alice Goody was back from the ladies and talking in a deep conversation with Charles and Moira. She was still overcome about her shares in the school. Hank and Dorothy were now back at the table and joining in on the conversation. The Band was live and putting down beats that had the party goers jumping. Finely dressed or not. People responded to good live music.

Suddenly the doors to the large room they were in burst open. Everyone was on the defense as they stared at two armed young men dressed in all black from head to toe. Dark stocking caps on their heads. It was apparent this was a robbery.

The taller of the two held what looked like an AK-47 and aimed it at Charles Xavier. Every thug knows to go for the weak ones first. What better target then the old guy in the wheelchair. He made an announcement when his partner aimed at the party goers and a third and fourth man came in and aimed at the staff, band and a few patrons who were near the large back room.

"Listen up people do as we say and nobody gets hurt." He pulled out a large sack.

"Just drop your money and jewels into the sack and we leave you just as we found you minus your things of course." He sounded as if he were smirking. There were several sacks already fill from the outer room attached to the last two men.

Charles sent out a mental command to his X-men. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then Scott made sure he had a clear shot of the lead guy. Bobby positioned himself near the second. Remy stood with Marie as they listened to Charles' orders in their head. Peter and Kitty were by the third and Logan got the fourth who was ogling Ororo like she was ice cream in a dish.

With one blink. The team reacted. Scott shot the gun out of the leaders hands. The second guy found his gun frozen solid to him. He was shaking from the cold he was trapped in. His feet and legs were encased in ice.

The third found a large metal guy crushing his gun into pieces. He got one shot off, carrying a 45 instead of an automatic, it passed through Kitty and went into a wall. The fourth pissed his pants. The angry looking hairy guy with the looker had these claws pop out and into his gun. He shredded it like paper. The first guy yelled out.

"They're mutants!" That made the professor knock him out. He did so after scanning the thug's mind. Charles had gone strongly into his mind probing it. He was shocked and disturbed by what he saw and felt. It revolted him.

The owner of the club was shaking hard thanking the group. He was wiping the sweat from his forehead with a hand that was spastic as he shook. He tried to call the police but had to hand the phone to one of his waiters. He was still too shaky.

Scott saw the look on Charles' face. He walked over to him after he had calmed down a frightened and confused Geri. He sat her down near Moira, Dorothy and Alice. All three mad at the intrusion on their party. Ororo and Logan were near Charles while Peter and Bobby tied up the crooks. Bobby encased two in ice. Peter tied his two with some metal rods provided by the staff who were relived that the X-men were there. Remy, Marie and Kitty were helping the other patrons in the main dinning area who were upset and shaken.

Scott came over to the professor with Hank joining him. Charles looked pensive. Hank spoke first.

"Charles what's wrong?" Xavier looked up his face was screwed into a scowl.

"I had the misfortune of getting into that …man's mind. And I use the term loosely." He rubbed his head as if it ached. Scott spoke next.

"What did you find?" Scott was to the point. Ororo looked at Logan who appeared to be stiffing the air. His claws came out. Everyone jumped.

"We got company." The doors flew open again only this time all the metal in the room rose off the table. Charles spoke.

"Erick."

Through the doors Magneto strode. Looking proud and defiant. Behind him stood Mystique and Sabretooth. Toad, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver followed.

"Charles." Magneto gave a brisk hello. He stared with a pleased eye at the rest of the group. Then his eyes settled on the four men. All now bare faced. They sat cowering when they saw him. Xavier spoke up looking tense.

"Erick. You should just leave them to the police. They are criminals. Let law enforcement handle this."

Ororo looked at the professor's face. Clearly these men did something more then rob expensive restaurants. The look of terror on their now exposed faces showed they knew who Magneto was. Logan looked at Ororo. She looked just as bewildered as he was. He could smell the fear coming off the men. Magneto spoke.

"Come now Charles you and I both know law enforcement is a waste of time. These men are beyond the pale of the law. They would walk for their crimes." Bobby looked confused.

"Since when do robbers get to walk? There's a whole room full of witness'. We all saw them." Peter shook Bobby's shoulder.

"I think there is more to this then just the attempted robbery here tonight."

Magneto grinned.

"Finally someone who sees what I'm talking about Charles." Xavier still looked upset and very angry.  
"Erick you know you don't have to do this. Just leave them to the police. What they've done is heinous but that's for the law to decide not you or me." Magneto laughed. The others with him did as well.

"So sorry Charles but I can't do that." He grinned and looked at the Scarlet Witch. She stared at the four men and chanted. In a blink of the eye the men were gone. Charles was livid as he eyed Magneto before he looked at the Scarlet Witch.

"Erick you need to have her bring them back or I will interfere." Magneto laughed.  
"Really Charles you would threaten your own for one of them. They're baseline humans. More animals from what you read in their minds. You and I both know the law will do nothing to them. Therefore I will have to be their judge, jury and executioner for their crimes." Logan looked at Magneto as he spoke to Charles.

"Chuck just what the hell did those jokers do besides trying to robbing this place?" Charles held his head and spoke softly.

"I'm afraid Logan their crimes would upset the ladies." Ororo stared at him.

"Charles we're X-men. We have seen a lot. I don't believe shock is going to phase us as to what ever it is they did." Charles spoke up. His voice hard and a little shaky.

"They kidnapped two young mutant women, then tortured them for hours before raping and murdering them. This was all done as a part of some hate group called Friends of Humanity." Everyone in the room looked sick and disgusted. Logan spoke up.

"There's more ain't there?" Charles looked ill.

"The only reason they did it was because the women were mutants. They target mutants and mutants only." Magneto grinned.

"Now do you see Charles we have a common enemy. The F.O.H. They are our foes. Not each other." Sabretooth kept glaring at Ororo. Logan took a defensive stance close to her. Magneto noticed.

"Ororo my dear. Might I say you're looking wonderful these days. So much like you looked when I first left the mansion." Sabretooth growled. Logan let out one of his own. Charles yelled out.

"Enough!" Both feral men got silent. Ororo stood near Logan and touched his arm trying to calm him. He was fighting to keep from stabbing Sabretooth.

"Erick I will only say this one more time. Return those men for the police. Let the law handle this. You will only give their group cause to hate mutants even more and cause a war we can not afford." Magneto smiled.

He then looked at the human women in the group. He stared hard at Geri, Alice and Dorothy. The ladies all looked stunned. It was as though he were surveying them. Charles merely sighed as he shook his head.

"Erick I'm trying to reason with you…" Magneto stopped him with his hand held up.

"Charles please I didn't come to start a fight with you or your X-men. I came only to collect the rubbish that was attacking our people and hurting them. I am not without a heart you know. I do realize that you all came to enjoy yourselves.." He never finished.

Marie, Remy and Kitty were coming back in the room and Marie gasped when she saw Magneto. The men of the brotherhood all turned and smiled leering at Marie and Kitty. Remy fired up one of his cards and Peter turned to metal.

Magneto stopped everything with a nod to the Scarlet Witch. She chanted softly. Everyone froze except for him and Charles.

"I did not come here to disrupt your evening Charles. Believe me I am glad to see you did survive your unexpected and heart wrenching death. I am sorry we can not see eye to eye. But you do understand that I am a man on a mission. I will see my people free with fist and claw if need be." With that

The Brotherhood all vanished with a few chants from the Scarlet Witch.

Charles Xavier held his head. The frozen group all came back to life. Peter was by Kitty fast. A fearful Geri was helped by Scott. She couldn't stop shaking. Alice was a little better but upset about what those men had done and who this new group was. Hank was on his cell to DC. Dorothy was helping several staff who had fainted and some who like the owner were too frightened to move.

Hank joined her when he got off the phone. Assisting those who were in a state of shock. Many were relieved to get back their stolen items. Bobby helped Peter and Kitty to give back to the patrons and staff all the items in several sacks that were taken from the four armed men. Since the thugs were now gone the police couldn't make an arrest.

They could only take statements from those who were there. The whole evening was soured by the men and the Brotherhood. The fact that a new threat called the Friends of Humanity were out doing such horrible things to mutants pretty much ended the evening. The Xavier group felt ill at ease now. All of them wanted to go home.

Dorothy was coming back to the mansion with Hank. He did not feel it was safe for her to go home and be alone. Moira seconded that. Ororo assured her there was more then enough room and offered Dorothy her room while she was at the boathouse. Logan grinned. He liked the fact that she thought of the boathouse as a home.

Back at the mansion Warren and Betsey waited downstairs as the groups all came back. The defense systems were up. Hank had already put in new security measures two months back but now he wanted them updated. He was on his secure cell with Forge. Ororo nearly jumped when she heard his name. Logan didn't miss that.

Charles said nothing but motored to his office looking glum and angry. Scott, Moira and Hank followed. Scott had already made sure that a still ruffled Geri was with Marie and Kitty who took her to her room. Dorothy was with Ororo who was showing her to the attic loft. Peter had already told Logan that the systems more then covered the boathouse as well. Logan still insisted he was going to do a sweep of the grounds. Peter, Bobby and Remy went with him.

In the office Charles Xavier looked angry. He looked at his friends and family. Scott although still using a light cane looked stronger and more like his old self. Hank ever the stoic beast was seated and still on his I-pad checking the security systems. The safety of the lives in the school were of the upmost importance to him. Moira was pouring Charles some tea laced with her Scottish brandy.

Charles sipped it as if it were a lifeline. He was still trying to cleanse his mind of the scenes he saw in the minds of those twisted and deprived men. What Magneto planned for them would be far worse then what they had done to the two young female mutants they had tortured, raped and murdered. All done on the orders from some sick twisted head of their hate group.

The shocking part was that the figure they reported to was a female. Charles had seen her in the lead thug's mind. He could only see partial images of her. She had very dark hair and an olive complexion. Charles couldn't see her clearly in thug number one's mind. He could not see her face but she had a rather odd accent. It was like she was keeping her features in the shadows. As if she was aware that she would be seen if they were caught. As if she knew of the powers some mutants had. This woman knew to hide her features from view. It sickened him more.

What women would order such evil against another. This was a true bigot. One who hated with their whole heart. Whenever she spoke with them you never could see her face. It vexed Charles even more to think that any one of those young women could have been a student at Xavier's. It made him have to swallow the bile that was forming in his throat.

The plans he saw in his mind belated that this group wanted to terrorize mutants in every city or town in the country and spread their hatred through the world. They had world plans to garner favor with non-mutants to show how dangerous mutants were. They were planning on nudging mutants like Magneto into reacting without thinking and then using the actions of the Brotherhood to show how cruel and inhuman mutants were. Only true hatred and fear motivated these people. They had no love or compassion for mutants. They saw Xavier and all mutants as beasts or sub-humans. There was no aspect of any mutant that was even remotely human to them.

It was US against THEM. The F.O.H. was just the KKK without the sheets. They were a new and dangerous source of bigots gone over the edge. What they couldn't control or understand they had to kill and malign. This was not new to Charles. This was what the X-men were formed to fight. Now they had a new enemy. One he felt had far reaching hands then just the thugs they had stopped tonight.

Logan found that with this new enemy Chuck relented somewhat and gave Logan one of the Jeeps to keep at the boathouse. Now he was parking said jeep in the driveway with Ororo seated by his side. She was quiet since they got in the jeep. The evening had been an eye opener for everyone. Even Hank's date had been disgusted with news of how this new group was planning on operating. Especially since their headman was a woman who was vile in her ideas of hurting and killing mutants. It had sickened Dorothy or Tess, as she preferred being called, beyond words.

Ororo was staring at the night sky as he parked. Logan got out and walked around so fast that as soon as Ororo stood, he was lifting her out of the jeep. He lingered a little holding her close to him before he put her down. He felt her heart speed up and her breath hitch. She covered it well. Merely nodding her thank you as she carefully walked into the boathouse with him behind her.

Hank had given Logan the codes for the security systems he had outfitted on the boathouse. Hank was a busy beaver when it came to security. The main reason he wasn't always available for the rubdowns with Scott was this boathouse and his making sure it was as secure as the mansion and the grounds. Hank left no stone unturned when it came to security. He had nightmares about the time Stryker had come. Marie's detailed description had given him sleepless nights.

Even Artie had been pleased when Hank had placed super secure systems in place. Breaching the mansion would take days now instead of hours. Charles was pleased about that aspect. The Forge input would have to be discussed with Charles at length. The man was still on the shit list as far as Charles was concerned.

That alone pleased Logan. He'd heard all about Forge and didn't want the guy around. He saw Ro's reaction. She was tense when she heard Hank say the name. There was still a sore spot from that guy. Logan watched as Ro slipped off her heels and walked barefooted to the kitchen. He pulled off his shoes and jacket the tie was gone back at the mansion. He joined her in the kitchen.

"Feeling like some tea?" Ororo smirked at him.

"You a mind reader too? I need to unwind from tonight." Ororo was putting her kettle on to heat up. Logan went for a Molson. He slide down onto the corner booth seat. Ororo soon joined him tea in hand. Logan reached up to the overhead cabinet and pulled out a surprise. Ororo laughed as she noted the fresh box of Dunkin donuts.

"And just when did you sneak these in?" He held open the dozen box set as Ororo choose a powdered donut and Logan grabbed a plain donut.

"Hey Remy owes me favors." Ororo looked at Logan snorting.

"Right like you don't use those claws to scare him into doing things for you. I know my brother Logan. He loves Marie and fears you. You scared the crap out of him when Marie and he first started dating." Logan grinned and smiled remembering how Remy ducked him for a week when he found out Marie was dating the Cajun.

"Yeah I do kinda scare him don't I." He almost forgot he had the grin on his face. That is until he saw Ororo's raised eyebrow. She daintily ate her donut and sipped her tea watching him. Logan smirked.

"I gotta say I love that dress." Ororo nearly choked when she looked back at Logan. He was looking her up and down.

"Thank you. It was just an impulse buy some months ago." Logan smiled.

"Darlin you got great taste. That dress suits you to a T. You look like you stepped out of heaven in a red dress." Ororo shook her head.

"I was not the only woman dressed well tonight Logan. I did note that all of the ladies looked amazing tonight." Logan grinned.

"Like you gals didn't think we'd all notice. I swear I thought Peter was gonna grab Kitten and rush off to a justice of the peace. Even icepop looked dazed when he saw his date." Ororo snorted.

"Yes Logan even you never left my side all night." Logan looked like a deer caught in headlights. Ororo went on.

"But I must thank you for standing up to Sabretooth tonight. It made my skin crawl when he kept leering at me." She got up to put her cup away and kissed him on the cheek. Whispering good night.

Logan sat there with the dumbest smile on his face as Ororo went upstairs to bed. He was still grinning as he laid down for the night after setting the security systems. He was loving living at the boathouse with Ro.

Charles Xavier was up early and had been on Cerebro this morning. He still had no handle on where Magneto took the thugs from last night. He did manage to find a small cluster of mutants in a town not far from here. They had a telepath and he sent out a message to him to advise him of the new threat to mutants. Charles was relieved to find that many in the mutant community were already aware of the F.O.H.

They were making a name for themselves as trouble for any and all mutants. Thus many were hiding out in small communities like this one. This group was known to hunt mutants down. Charles felt ill as he left the room. He needed strong tea and a rest. This group could not be allowed to ruin the lives of mutants as they planned.

Hank was already up and supposed to be making breakfast with Peter. But the shy Russian was with his lady love. Tess had come down instead helping Hank prepare a healthy morning breakfast for those students who were only one week away from going home and those who were staying for the summer.

Tess proved once again that she had a way of multi-tasking as she whisked the eggs, made the toast, fried the bacon and even pulled out several jams from the pantry. Hank was grinning as she passed him planting a soft kiss on his lips as she did so. He loved this woman and it felt good.

Moira walked in with a more relaxed Geri both grinning at the picture of Hank and his lady love making breakfast for the school. Moira smiled at Geri as both went to assist. Breakfast this morning would be a feast. Mainly to clear their minds of what had happened at the after party last night.

Geri felt years better after a long sleep and had awoken refreshed and feeling safer. It didn't hurt with all the attention Scott was giving her last night. It had shocked and thrilled her to know he was interested in a geek like her. She never got the tall, good looking guy. Never had one to even acknowledge her presence before.

She grinned as she whipped up the pancake batter and Moira filled the large hot water dispensers. The table was being loaded with eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, muffins, turkey ham, and toast. Students and the staff came filing down from the smells that filled the air. The lunch room was soon overrun by hungry residents of Xavier's. All were pleased by the feast before them.

Logan awoke to the smell of French toast and ham as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Ororo was up and cooking. She had the large stack of French toast on a platter which she placed on the table along with a large amount of cooked ham. Logan grinned as he greeted her. She smiled at him.

He held her chair as she sat opposite him and both got down to enjoying a wonderful breakfast. No matter how many times they ate together the feeling that this was right never left Logan or Ororo.

It just felt comfortable to eat together. Like breaking bread at the same table was something that needed to be done with them. Ororo had to admit. Logan had grown on her. She looked forward to cooking for him and with him. That had jolted her. He was more at peace then she had imagined and he didn't mind spending time with her.

Some nights they didn't talk, but would simply sit watching a movie or the news quietly together. He even knew if she craved some snack food and somehow always had her favorite popcorn or peanuts available. It had shocked her the first time he'd done it. But after the third time it just felt normal. Logan seemed to know when she needed something and he always had it for her.

She eyed him as she drink her tea. Logan was devouring the ham and French toast. He grinned as he drink more of the roasted coffee Ro had made.

"Something on your mind Darlin?" He grinned as she wiped the corners of her mouth.

"Nothing much…Just that you always seemed to know what I like and how I like it. It's just strange that's all. I never realized you knew how I liked my tea or what my favorite snack foods are.." Logan laughed.

"Uhh Darlin I was a trained assassin and I know how to pay close attention to what a person likes or dislikes. Besides I like you." He saw the heat in her face flare up as she pretended she was unaffected.

"I kinda get the impression that you like me too." He grinned when she nearly gulped down her tea. Ororo recovered quickly.

"Well maybe .. or maybe not. I think in any event that we should take things slow." Ororo couldn't believe that those words came out of her mouth. Logan hide his snicker behind a mouthful of French toast. He swallowed before speaking.

"Agreed. I think we should explore this new facet to our relationship." Ororo nearly dropped her cup as she stared wide eyed at Logan. He laughed.

"Hey Darlin I read." She smirked as she tried to eat again and then noted Logan was smirking as well. Both broke out into laughter. They quieted down after a while. Logan spoke up first.

"You got any plans for today?" Ororo grinned.

"No. Charles stated he would schedule a team meeting for Monday. He wanted to talk to other agencies. Why?"

"I figure ya might enjoy a ride on my bike later on." Ororo stopped her fork mid-way to her mouth.

"I though Charles only allowed you the jeep?" Ororo caught the smirk on Logan's face and rose one eyebrow.

"Well Pete did help me load her into the trunk last night. I figure having two rides wouldn't hurt." Ororo sat open mouthed as she stared at Logan. He looked sheepish.

"Honestly Logan. Boys and their toys. You and Peter should be ashamed of yourselves…" Logan spoke before she could finish.

"I'll teach ya to ride." Ororo looked at him long and hard before a smile broke out on her face. Finally she spoke.

"Can we go after breakfast?" Logan grinned.

"Yeah." Ororo smiled. Her eyes lit up.

"Okay." She gleefully ate her breakfast as did Logan.

One hour after breakfast Ororo was seated in front of Logan on his bike. He was showing her the controls and easing her out onto the road. Ororo was grinning after the first hour. Logan was stunned she loved speed. He shouldn't have been surprised. She could use air currents to move through the air pretty damn fast.

She was giggling. It fit her. She was having fun and enjoying herself. Logan was too. He was inhaling that clean fresh smell she always had. He was loving the feel of her long white locks and how soft they were hitting his face. He never knew why she had chopped off all her hair before or dyed it that God awful silver color. He liked it long and white. It looked like fresh fallen snow and suited her.

Ororo was having fun. She loved Scott and Hank but neither one ever let her ride the bikes. Even Remy was unwilling to show her how to ride. Ororo always thought they were nuts. She was a wind rider after all. She could always fly off into the air to avoid any crashes. Logan had his arms wrapped around her small waist. She didn't mind the feel of those big, burly hands and arms around her. He even smelled good too. She shook her head. No thoughts about Logan like that. With him this close he would know what she was thinking just by any subtle body changes.

Logan grinned. She likes him. He could feel that when he lifted her out of the jeep last night. Her body wasn't tense near his either and he caught that faint whiff of arousal that came over her. It corresponded with his moving closer to her body. He smiled. Yeah maybe ole Chuck knew just what he was doing. Ororo was speeding near a curve. This old dusty road on the estate was perfect for speed racing bikes.

Logan always made sure none of the students knew about it. He had it hidden by felling several dead trees and branches around it. Even going so far as to posting fake quick sand signs around it. It had felt stupid at the time but it worked. People shied away from areas that might be dangerous. Even mutant kids. He grinned. The spot was perfect for him and Ro to cut lose and enjoy each other's company.

Ororo was speeding with the bike. The feel of the air in her hair and a sense of danger was taking over. Hell she loved it. She could see why Logan liked riding. It felt good to have this kind of power between your legs. He was laughing. He felt her joy. Yeah she was definitely getting a hog of her own.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or their characters. I only own my characters and story. Life is not a bowel of Cherries!

Note this story has an M rating. Please do not ignore that. This is not a story for underage children.

SOMETHING STRANGE, SOMETHING NEW

Chapter 8

Ororo was giggling actually giggling with Logan. He told some funny stories as they sat at the picnic table of the roadside diner they had stopped at after leaving the estate. Motorcycles were utterly in Ororo's future. The diner itself was filled with other weekend warriors who rode hogs as well. That old song Mustang Sally ran through her mind as she laughed and ate with Logan. The ride had been smooth and fun. This was the best way to take her mind off of the mess last night.

The cheese fries and these hamburgers were good. They went perfect with the ice cold beer that Logan made her try. It surprised Ororo that she liked it. She had never tasted a blue cheese and bacon burger. This one was spicy and good. As for the cold Canadian brand beer, well it was as good as Logan had said it would be. The cheese fries were amazing as well. Cheddar and mozzarella on fries with hot spices. This was a gold mine. Logan knew his diners.

It was strange she was having so much fun with him. His humor was very dry but funny as all hell. He was a wit. Who knew. He made fun of himself. Never even breaking a sweat or showing any worry about how bad he could make himself look. He even admitted to being the jerk who fell off the roof the night after the services for Charles, Scott and Jean.

Logan had been so drunk he had walked to the roof believing that he was going to his room. Then falling through the unlocked door that led to the unfinished balcony for the west wings then new dorms on the top floor. Ororo remembered that night. No one would fess up to being the dumbass who broke most of the new floors that the workmen had to redo.

It was even Logan who had flooded the third floor bathrooms when he forgot to reattach a pipe he was working on. All because Jubilee was looking for him to take her to the mall. In his haste he had snuck out forgetting to let Peter know the pipe was undone. Peter had taken a shower, a long one. Never knowing he was leaking then flooding water onto the residents of the second and first floor rooms.

That caused a big firestorm of trouble that night at the mansion. It took Hank and Ororo along with Rouge and Remy all night to drain the water and dry the wood. It was funny later on but not at the time. Logan had come in the next day and strangely stayed out of sight. Now Ororo knew why. He was the culprit, not Peter who apologized over and over again for the flood.

Several months ago she would have called him an ass now she felt completely different. Ororo paused before biting into her second burger. Logan had gone to get another beer and a ginger float for her.

They were enjoying each other's company? Wow! Jean would have laughed her ass off. How many times did Ororo tell her that Logan had nothing that would interest her. Jean had always smirked at that. She would wink and tell Ororo that maybe Ororo wasn't trying to find anything about Logan to interest her. That just made Ororo roll her eyes and go back to whatever she was doing before Jean tried to bring up the 'Wolfmans' great traits.

'Oh great I can feel sissy laughing her head off at me in heaven.' Ororo sat there munching on her burger and cheese fries.

This food was really good. Logan came back with a fresh beer and a large ginger float for Ororo. She shook her head thanks to him, her mouth too full of her food. Beer was alright but a ginger float was better. Logan grinned. He definitely liked this fuller figured Ororo. She was all woman. Not a salad eater.

It kind of made him feel lightheaded. He had made her laugh and not just a soft laugher but giggling. Him of all people. He knew he had a way of telling about some of his less then finer moments but who knew she thought he was funny. He liked that giggle. Her eyes lit up like big blue stars. She was shaking so hard she could barely chew. Logan liked that. She was enjoying the burger and the cheese fries as well.

She even wanted a bike now. She took to riding like she did her wind surfing. Ororo was made to ride a bike. Yeah this was a good day. The two sat eating and talking never noticing the eyes of the man seated just three tables away watching them. He spoke into a cell phone that he kept near his ear.

"Yes madam. Two of the Xavier mutants are at the diner. They appear to be alone. I have spotted no others. I know they were among the group who was at the club when Magneto and his scum took Roark and his group. Yes Madam I'll keep a close watch." The man put his phone back and went back to eating his burger.

Logan's nose twitched. He hated that. It always belayed trouble. It felt odd when he sensed a pair of eyes watching him. He caught the odd scent of the guy pretending he was eating and talking on his phone. Logan knew something was off about him. He had watched him and Ro since they sat down. He had a sick look about him. He even smelled funny. He was somehow off. Logan knew that equaled trouble. Ororo was no slouch she read his eyes and spoke softly.

"So what's the problem. F.O.H again?" Logan grinned.

"Maybe. Just one odd ball I picked up so far. He's just sitting and watching us. His scent is all wrong though like he's been nuked or something." Ororo looked confused.

"Nuked?" Logan smirked as he drank more beer.

"Like his scent's been altered or changed to disguise it." Ororo put down her burger. Logan went on.

"These nutjobs really know how to ruin any day don't they. I wish they could spend all their hateful ways of wasting our time on trying to get a life. One of there own. That way they could work on for themselves and just leave all us Mutants the hell alone." Logan grunted. Ororo grinned. Eyes shining. She liked what he said. He liked this Ororo.

"Here! Here! If only mutant haters could get a life and stay the hell out of ours. Maybe the world would be a better place without those losers who hate anybody who isn't them." Ororo rose her float to Logan's beer clinking the glasses as both saluted that thought.

"Yeah now if anybody up there could make it so." Logan groaned out. Ororo smiled.

"From your mouth to the Goddess' ears. May she make it so. Let all these waste of time mutant haters find a life all their own and live it." She clinked her glass to his beer bottle again and they both drank down their drinks.

Charles Xavier was feeling better. He was contacted by Tony Stark and Nick Fury. They had been paying attention to the Friends of Humanity as well. It seems the group was gathering a great deal of attention. Several of their members had tried to attack two small children and their mother near the Avengers mansion one evening merely because the children were normal in appearance and the mother an apparent mutant due to some physical oddities.

They felt she should be relieved of her children because they were normal and she wasn't. Captain America, a man not known for his great love of mutants had to intervene. Tony Stark as Iron Man had given the homeless family a place to stay in one of his many townhouses. Helping the mother to a job at his firm where she could work from home and care for her two small children.

Nick Fury had become involved when a young man in his agency was nearly killed defending himself from several members of the Hate group. His only mutation was his eye shape and the fact that his eyelids went up and not down. He had been jumped leaving his girlfriends home in the wee hours of the morning. His mutation was not so apparent so it had made Nick think twice. This group had access to finding out who was a mutant and who wasn't. It wasn't just by appearance. It had made SHIELD take notice of this group and it's members. Fury even had some limited information on one of the cloaked heads of this group.

He had already put in two agents deep undercover. The female Charles had almost seen was a woman that was believed to be named Millie Soto. That name could be a cover as well. But Nick had found some information that led them to believe she was a woman who was born to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic who had a distaste for mutants. Fury described it as a severe hatred for mutants.

Similar to what Hitler felt for the Jews or the K.K.K. fells for African people across the globe. This woman was believed to be all of forty-five and hated mutants be they newborns or adults. She was called the right arm of the true head of the F.O.H. A person so hidden that only she saw them. This woman was the second in command and did the dirty work of ordering the attacks and killings of numerous mutants.

The only reason she had not been arrested yet was because she was now so deep underground. No one could find her. She was as Nick put it believed to be hidden among several hate groups who were forming alliances with the F.O.H. That news truly made Charles ill. Hatred on this level was dangerous and would only lead to a great deal of bloodshed.

True most mutants were peaceful but not all. News was increasing that Magneto had another growing army since the return of his powers. With all the anti-mutant hate many were running to him for training in case of a war against humans like the F.O.H. were to happen. That information had stunned Charles.

Henry had a few connections left in D.C. who would gather more information on what the government would and was planning on doing. Charles had Hank on the phone with those friends of his in D.C. now. This news was troublesome and Charles couldn't help thinking that this group was formed to retard all the advancement mutants were making in winning over the public.

History has always proven that there are a few in society that will hold back a nation for their own ulterior motives. Charles knew many people who hated like the FOH were wealthy and powerful people who were smaller minded hateful beings that despised equality if it interfered with their ability to make a profit.

Erick alone would savor any hatred humans showed against mutants. He would love to see the world burn. He lived for that day to come. Charles knew he had to stop it before it got any worse. The X-men would have to stop this group before things truly went any farther. He was thankful the Avengers and SHIELD were on the case. Hank and Scott had both felt that this group had funding from some very powerful forces.

Logan had blown the creep at the diner away with his riding the bike with Ororo placed in front of him. He made sure that if the F.O.H. wanted to shoot them the bullets would have to go through him. He had Ororo place her feet on top of his as he rode doing zigzags on the road and taking turns onto back roads that the creep in his black sedan couldn't follow.

Sure enough after about two hours of the driver getting his car scratched up and his back tire finally blown. Mr. Creep had given up. Logan even drove to a secluded spot to check the bike plus Ororo and himself for any bugs. He wouldn't put it past Mr. Creep to try a thing like that. They were clean and so was the bike by the time they got back to the estate and the boathouse.

Charles was informed and a description of Mr. Creep was given. The man had wore a baseball cap. But Logan noted his color was off. According to Logan the guy had such pasty looking skin that he almost resembled a corpse. Even his scent was off. Logan described it to Hank as smelling more like a hospital then a human. Ororo though that was odd but it could be important. He also stated that his eyes looked a little funny. Almost like they were tinted black. The smell thing had Hank wondering.

Hank realized that Logan meant the man smelled antiseptic like a hospital. Logan had to agreed. He said it was as if the man had been scrubbed clean. It was odd but a lead of some kind as to where or even what the F.O.H. were up too. Charles had Scott working on the computers with Kitty trying to find any old hospital recently brought by any private organizations.

Nick Fury's people were located in the southwestern branch of this new hate group. So they didn't have much Intel. on any of the North eastern group. The F.O.H. operated much as cells did in the various underground terror networks around the world. No group even aware of the other save for maybe one outside or inside contact. Everything they did was like an terror network similar to many around the globe.

Logan spoke to Charles about maybe having the X-men go undercover. Charles didn't believe that to be feasible. Mainly because the X-men were well known due the the fight at Worthington labs. Storm, Ice-man, Beast, Shadow cat and Wolverine were well known to the public. Gambit and Rouge along with Psylocke and Angel not so much. But none could truly fit in with an anti-mutant hate group.

No. He was not going to risk putting the team undercover in the group. He was going to try another route. One where the head of this band of killers wouldn't think to try. He would need assistant though. The X-men would require joint ventures to some extent with other super heroes, not all were mutants.

Charles was holding a meeting now with the team to discuss this plan of action. Hank was undecided as to whether or not the X-men should work with the Avengers and SHIELD. Logan had no problem with it. Ororo objected about the Avengers.

"I have never gotten the impression that Captain America is okay with mutants. He hasn't exactly been great at being diplomatic towards us." Logan grunted.

"Yeah maybe but to him if you can get the job done that's all that matters." Ororo gave Logan a look before speaking.

"That maybe Logan. But his attitude towards mutants has been rather cold and unfeeling. Strange to me for a man whose powers came from being experimented on in the nineteen forties. I guess if mutants were hit with gamma rays or had been humans experimented on like him, he might like us better as opposed to us being born with our abilities. It seems he's more secure with powers that are manifested from a lab or from outer space then from evolution." Logan couldn't get out a response as some in the room agreed with Ororo. Kitty spoke up.

"I tend to agree with Ororo. That time you sent me as a young student to the Avengers mansion to bring some paperwork to Mr. Stark I encountered Captain America in I guess what was their rec. room. He kind of freaked out when I phased through the door looking for Mr. Stark's office." Ororo snorted. Logan gave her a look.

Bobby, Betsey, Peter, Marie and Remy were nodding and making vocal agreements with Ororo and Kitty. The rest sat there as if going over how distance Captain America was towards mutants. Even Scott paused recalling out on the rare occasions he'd met the older Avenger how the man had such cold eyes towards him and the team. Logan picked up his cup of coffee and saluted Ororo.

She merely folded her arms across her chest and smiled. Logan had to grin. That woman was feisty. Charles said nothing waiting for the murmurs to die down. He resumed when everyone was quiet.

"We will be working mainly with Shield. The Avengers will be coming in only if needed. Although Tony Stark seemed to want more involvement due to the Brotherhood regrouping." He watched as Ororo relaxed. As did some others.

It wasn't lost on Charles that the great Captain American might harbor some mutant hatred of his own. To see that he was nervous when ever he and the late Jean Gray were near him was too obvious to be missed. The man's palms were always sweaty and he appeared to be in need of leaving as soon as he spotted them. Getting past mutant hatred was a problem unlike any other.

Charles grinned as Hank spoke up next. Informing the team of the course of anti-mutant activity this new hate group had been up to. He saw the interaction between Logan and Ororo. Things were improving greatly. Charles sighed. Even Scott looked more like his old self. A lot more confident and happy.

The first plan of attack was surveillance. There would be teams assigned to watch fake set up mutant shelters. Nick Fury came up with the idea to flush out the F.O.H. He figured they would be easy targets for a hate group to attack. The mutants in any shelter would be a of a low class. Unable to have any powers with which to protect themselves. Charles agreed.

The first set-up was scheduled for two nights from today. Charles would break up the group into two teams. Scott would lead one and Ororo the other. Both gave each other a smile. Logan knew by the look on Chuck's face he was on Ororo's team. That suited him.

It didn't take long for Ororo and Logan to find themselves back home after a quick visit to her green house along with seeing Geri, Marie, Kitty and Jubilee. Of course Lizzie got to see Ororo as well.

Logan did manage a few hours in his garage. He helped Bobby with some problems on the little sports car that the kid had bought second hand. Peter, Scott and Remy were there as well. Each giving their own take on the F.O.H. No one had anything good to say about a group that hated mutants just because they were mutants. The largest piece of conversation for both Logan and Ororo was their budding relationship. That seemed to stun both of them as they were overcome with questions as to how they were getting along.

When Moira joined Ororo's group in the greenhouse, Ororo knew the hardline analysis was coming. She pretended she didn't see the snicker on Moira's face as she helped the others gather the ripe fruit from the fruit trees into large baskets. Ororo was taking back quite a bit for dinner tonight. Logan was in for a treat. She wanted to make her fruit curry to spread over some chicken that Logan wanted to grill tonight. Moira grinned as she stood by Ororo packing the fruit into the baskets.

"So How are you and the Wolverine getting along? I heard about your little trip to a diner together. I also heard that was because he's giving you bike riding lessons?" Ororo acted as if it were an everyday occurrence.

"Yes Logan is teaching me to ride the bike. We did stop at a diner for lunch. Thus the trip to the mansion. The encounter with a member of Friends of Humanity got us here after he wanted to follow us. We did nothing to garner his attention except to eat lunch and mind our own business." Marie giggled.

"Uhh Ro I'd say you and Logan were getting along pretty well if he's teaching you to ride his bike. He wouldn't let me get on it in all the years I'd been pleading with him to let me. I never got that privilege ever. Remy at least lets me drive his old jeep." Marie grinned as Kitty and Jubilee made kissy faces at each other. Ororo shook her head.

"We're just getting along better that's all. It's still early in this… I don't know what to call it..friendship.. maybe. Logan and I are getting along it's no big deal." She looked at the snickering faces of her friends.

"That's all. We're just friends." Ororo lugged her basket towards the mansions' back door. Moira followed carrying another.

"Really now. I've thought different considering how protective he was of you during the incident at the club. It was as if Sabretooth had made one move towards you Logan would've gutted him like a fish." Ororo stopped as she neared the kitchen's back door.

"Logan would have done that for anybody." Moira snorted.

"Right keep telling yourself that my girl. That man is smitten and he's smitten bad. He's not going to allow any man near you. I think the beast side of him has set his sights on you and that is the key as to why he's so enamored of you." Ororo actually stared at Moira as they washed the fruit and packed it into the large carry all that Logan would load into the jeep. Moira went on.

"Heed my words you're his chosen mate." Ororo snorted shaking her head.

Logan was getting an earful from Scott of all people telling him how it was when he realized he loved Jean. Logan was giving him odd looks. Hank who'd joined them and Peter were smirking as they helped Bobby with his recently brought used car.

"I'm telling you Logan once you fall for her it's a hard fall. You are going to need years to get back up. A woman who holds your heart holds it for life." Logan was rolling his eyes as he helped Bobby with the engine. Peter hauled up the large engine.

"That maybe well and true Scott but Jean is dead. What happens when that occurs?" Scott gave a sad smile.

"You mourn them for what feels like forever and try to carry on." All the guys got silent for a while until Remy broke the ice.

"Yes my friends you mourn but then you remember that when someone loves you they would want you to go on. Scott is still young. There is that sweet young woman Geri." He winked at Scott who pretended he was looking elsewhere. Remy went on.

"I have Marie. Peter has Kitty and Now Logan has his eyes on my padnat. I know he loves her. He would kill to protect her."

Logan banged his head on the car's hood to glare at Remy. Scott and the others broke out into laughter. The dent his head made in the hood didn't even faze him. Hank grinned.

"Ahh love. My dear Tess is my sole reason for my believing in it." Bobby laughed.

"Where is your ladylove this morning Hank?" Hank grinned.

"She's with the youngest members of our institution. Tess has a weak spot for the little ones. She loves children." Remy winked.

"I'd say then homie that ya get to cracking. Your ladylove is sending ya signals to hurry up and marry her." Logan grunted.

"Oh yeah Cajun when are you and Rouge setting a date?" Remy nearly choked. That made the rest all laugh.

Now back at their lake house, Logan stood at the grill inhaling the chicken that Ororo had coated with her fruit curry mix of spices and fresh fruit sauce. The smell was wonderful as was the side dishes she was cooking in the kitchen. Logan had always been a sucker for Boston baked beans. He liked the way Ro made hers from scratch.

Inside Ororo was cooking her Beans. She took them out of the convection oven and placed in her yeast biscuits. The stove top also boasted her sweet potatoes and green beans. Ororo was adding some roasted peppers to her greens as Logan came in for a fresh beer. He grinned liking the way she looked so at ease in the kitchen.

He recalled all those times that he had watched her making the large meals at the school all by herself. That is until Marie, Kitty or even Betsey came downstairs. Then it was like watching the ringmaster as she would scramble eggs, bake cinnamon rolls, flip pancakes, butter toast and cook bacon all at the same time. Most days Logan just drink his beer and watched silently as she whirled around the large kitchen.

Now she was finishing off the food and taking out the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. Logan grinned. He loved those. One of those cookies with ice cold milk and he could sit up all night watching anything on the TV so long as the milk and cookies held out. Ororo had looked at him with a weary eye. She pulled out double the amount needed. Yeah she knew. Logan devoured her cookies.

"Woman if I didn't know better I'd swear you were trying to make me fat." Ororo turned her head slowly.

"Who are you addressing as woman?" She was smiling when she spoke.

"Did you inhale too much smoke from the grill? And as for making you fat. Logan you have a healing factor. I think it prevents you from gaining weight. If it didn't you'd be the size of the mansion with all the food you eat. Besides you're an adult. You should be able to monitor your own weight." Logan snorted as he put the empty beer bottle in the recycling bin.

"Didn't mean to offend ya Darlin. It's just that ya cook and bake so well I'm amazed that we don't have a bunch of overweight students at the school." Ororo blinked.

"Thank you for the odd complement. But if you noticed at Xavier's students are a lot more motivated by our danger room excises then they would be by a regular school's gym. Thus no weight gain. The meals put back needed calories that they burn off in the danger room." Logan smiled.

"You and old Hank have a lot in common. Always figuring out ways to keep us healthy." Ororo smirked as she placed her side dishes into platters and checked on her biscuits.

"Why Logan didn't you know I come from people older then sand. Born to the motherland of all creation. The first people. We who invented medicine and what foods would aid our bodies and minds. We have walked the road of life for centuries. We've learned a lot after the many tests and roads that the Goddess has placed us on and still we survive. Mainly by what we have learned and her divine grace."

She grinned as she pulled out the freshly done biscuits and buttered them. Her cookie mix already done. She was pleased as a smiling Logan pulled out two large baking sheets and prepared them for the cookie drops. The two worked in happy and contented silence to quietly to finish their dinner.

"Must you drink all the time?" Janet Clark sat down on the hard ground of the home she now shared with her mother.

"Yesssah." Her mother's slurred response came out. Since the loss of her job and the departure of Janet's Father her mother had been on a downward spiral.

"I drink because I'm happy. I drink because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me." She sang out her little song.

Then a loud belch followed her as she finished. Janet cringed. Being a mutant born with her mutation was not a good thing now. Here in the little town of Rockport Long Island. Many had a hatred for mutants. Thus Janet and her mom now living in this makeshift camp of runaway mutants whom society had outcast. Hidden from the main town by their semi-underground lair.

Her mother once worked in New York city as a social worker for the city. The discrimination she experienced from her co-workers and supervisors when they discovered she had a mutant child was enough to make her mom hit the bottle. Her dad did worse and disappeared after an all night cocaine feast with his coke head friends.

That was four years ago and Janet now in her eighteen year old life had seen her once happy family dissolve into the mess she had to live with now. Her dad was MIA and her mom was on a permanent liquid lunch that never allowed her to sober up or else she couldn't cope with the anger and hatred she felt coming from other humans.

Janet's mutation was not one she could hide as well as others. Her eyes were a pure lavender bright and shiny and her hair was thick flesh colored ropes that hung from her head. They resembled dreadlocks. She had an almost normal face except her nose was slightly smaller then most and her eyes very slanted. More so then many Asian eyes could ever look.

Her skin was actually her mom's deep brown complexion and her father's twisted smile graced her face most times. She didn't always feel different but the looks and at times screams she got when people saw her features and her hair made her cringe at the fact that being mutant was a fate worse then death.

Her mother was taking out the Jack Daniels now. That meant she was in her cups. Sobe the leader of this band of hiding mutants had wanted to talk to her mom but Janet knew that was a waste of time now. Her mother Gigi Clark was once a fine woman. Beautiful, smart, happy and on the fast track at her job.

Then Janet was born less then two years after she and her husband Paul Clark had married. The baby was a born mutant. The flesh colored thick rope like hair, plus the eyes and her nose showed that. The nurse had screamed when the doctor pulled her out. That was the start of her family's end. Janet sat back against the wall. Sobe was a telepath. He would contact Janet first before coming over. She would let him know not to bother tonight.

Her mother was in the small two room huts' living space screaming her drunken tirade at the TV. The mayor of New York was on. Her former boss.

"You two bit billionaire bigot. Fuck you! Ya scumbag! Thanks to you and you're hatred of mutants I don't got my job no more. My home was taken from me. My husband gone or dead or both." She gulped down more Jack. Tears falling down her eyes.

"I blame you! you cock sure bastard! You made that city into two cities. You came with all your money and power to divide and conquer. You stole from the poor and mutants just because you could!" She was standing unsteadily from her old chair.

"I hope you rot in hell! I hope people rise up against you! You ruined lives and killed off so many dreams for people! I hate you! I hate you! I hope you're happy you Robber-baron! You ruined peoples lives and for what your hatred of my baby. My baby.." She slumped back into her broken down easy chair as tears fell down her cheeks.

"All this because he hates mutants and poor people. All this because he has money to do it with and the power to get away with it.." Her voice drifted off.

She fell off into a drunken sleep. Her consumption of alcohol finally knocking her out. Janet realized her mother did this every time Mayor Bloomstein came on TV. It was as if she knew something many didn't. Janet always ignored it. For years her mom never spoke of her job in city hall. Her mom was once close to the offices of the mayor but that was eons ago.

Now she was just a drunk and no one paid her any attention. The slick smiling as if smirking at people face of mayor Bloomstein of New York city was beaming from the small TV. His clothes were as always perfect and his eyes always looked mean.

Almost like a predator. Janet always felt like the man never smiled just glared with an upturned mouth at people. He just didn't strike her as a happy person. He always looked too pale and pasty like he needed more sun. And he had those beady eyes. Dark and odd looking.

Her mom used to complain that his cologne was so strong it would make some workers in city hall sneeze. Janet turned off the TV and covered her mom with the old quilt she had managed to keep and repair since they'd lost their first home. It was one made by her late grannie.

She sighed. She wished there was a better way. Sobe contacted her. He informed her and all others awake to his mental call that a Charles Xavier was in touch with him tonight and wanted their group to met with him and his X-men by tomorrow night. They had a safe house for them all to move too.

Janet stood up. This was news. The X-men. Many had called them hero's after the fight against that mutant who could dissolve people. For a while after that many mutants were treated better. Janet had not taken the cure because her then doctor had stated that he had no idea what would happen to her because she was born with her mutations.

So she didn't. Instead she kept wearing her long hooded coat and keeping a low profile. Most people ignored what they assumed was an old woman walking down the street. Janet had learned to walk like an elderly person in order to avoid trouble from people her own age. Her home schooling making her smarter then most.

She avoided the very attacks that had plagued many who were easy to spot mutants like her. That fact had frightened her mother and thus after her job loss the moves over several states in the northeast. Janet longed for the south or southwest. She hated the cold and snow. Her hair was sensitive to it and she saw and breathed much better in a warmer climate.

Charles Xavier was off of Celebro for the night. Tomorrow he would have Ororo and her team pick up this rag tag band of mutants. He sensed that there was something within them that would aid in getting the F.O.H. He would though keep them secret from S.H.E.I.L.D and the Avengers.

For some reason Charles just felt he should keep this course of action from both groups. His mutation was all over the place when he had contacted Sobe. He felt a strange link between these mutants and himself. As if they held a key to solving the mutant hatred problem.

The mansion and lake house were quiet tonight. The residents of the Xavier school slept peacefully with their defenses on full alert. No intruders or dangers could touch them. Ororo and Logan slept quietly as well at the lake house. Both full and content from a good meal.

It was not so lucky for the hidden mutant underground of Rockport. Shots and screaming were what awakened Janet and her still not yet sober mother. Then the strangest thing happened. It got quiet. So quiet that Janet clung to her mom who covered her baby girl as the front door to their hut was flung open. Breaking the makeshift lock that their neighbor Gentle John had put in place for them. It was an old iron lock and now it was floating pass the two frightened women as a tall man with an odd helmet on his head walked in.

"Good evening ladies. Please don't get up. I merely came to gather some rough necks." Two men both human and dressed in dark clothing were wrapped tightly in two large steel ties from the abandoned work site some sixty feet from the lair. They looked terrified and were carried by a large animal looking man with dirty blonde hair and claws and another who was tall lean and had silver to white colored hair.

The two men were shaking. One looked like he wanted to scream. The big guy with claws growled at them. Both got really quiet. The one who wanted to scream passed out. Janet and Gigi stared at one another and then back at the men. Just then Sobe came in. He looked upset.

"Are you two alright?" Janet could only nod her head. Her mother still had a death grip on her head and spoke a little shaken.

"Yeah but look at our door. Gentle John just put that lock and hinges on three weeks ago." Magneto smiled.

"No problem my dear. Your Gentle John has been injured and my Scarlet Witch is seeing to his injuries. He will be fine as will your door." He waved his right hand slightly and the door, hinges and lock all reassembled themselves back together.

Janet and her mom stared at Sobe who in turn spoke to Magneto as he left.

"Sorry to frighten you. But some F.O.H. people found our spot and the Brotherhood just happened to be in the area. They are leaving now having discovered that the young more powerful mutants have already left for parts unknown." Gigi snorted as she finally released the death grip off her daughter.

"You mean he just realized this is a camp of mostly old mutants and humans with a few mutants too young to do anything." Sobe smiled.

"Yes. Now that's he gone we can get ourselves packed and ready for tomorrow." Sobe left walking out the working again front door.

Janet stared at her mom who kissed her on her head as they both got up to pack up their few belongings to prepare for the meeting with the X-men tomorrow. Sobe had already gone to see that the Brotherhood left before he contacted professor X and informed him of the nights developments.

Charles did a sweep of the area and found that Magneto and his group had gone. They were on the prowl for mutants to join a new army Erick was trying to build. There was some disappointment Charles felt coming from Magneto. Mostly that there were slim pickings at this camp but Charles felt Erick's elation that he had bagged two more F.O.H. members. Magneto would relish making them speak as to where the F.O.H. were headquartered.

Torture was what Magneto lived for. Charles did something he normally didn't do. He changed plans on Sobe. He would send his X-men tonight to pick up the members of the camp and have them hide within the institution away from Magneto and the FOH until he could formulate a new plan of entrapping the FOH.

He felt this was best. There were rumblings in the mutant underground that the FOH was bigger and better supported by people with a lot of power and money than ever revealed. Charles felt something in his bones alerting him to hide this group now. When it came to his gut Charles often went with it. He would tonight.

So to say that Logan, Ororo, Scott, Beast, Bobby, Kitty, Rouge and Peter were stunned to be awoken at four in the morning was putting it lightly. They all found themselves on the X-jet and making sure that there was room in the large storage chamber below deck for the entire camp of mutants.

Colossus, beast and Wolverine were in charge of loading the heavy items for the mutants. Ororo, Kitty and Rouge were securing those ill and hurt by the attack tonight. As Bobby was left in charge of getting the able bodied on board and situated for the flight back to the institution. Jubilee, Remy, Moira, Geri and Tess were making the rooms for the new mutants ready and stocked with things they might need.

Including fresh clothes, soaps, shampoos, towels and each room came with a stocked mini fridge and private bath. Tess was still staying in Ororo's attic room. That allowed for use of the various guest rooms in the mansion's seldom used East wing which housed over forty rooms still empty despite a large student body.

Geri pushed a large cart of room supplies on her cart as she helped Moira place various items in each room. Remy and Tess were on the other end making sure those rooms had everything needed. The med. Lab was already set up. Gentle John the mutant shot by the FOH. was injured but alive thanks to the Scarlet Witch but still needed medical attention. Geri had already set up a bed for him and had all of Hank's needed medical supplies ready and waiting.

The group finished quickly and went to met Charles at the X-jet's landing pad. A stretcher stood by for Gentle John. The plane landed smoothly. Ororo was flying with Logan assisting. That still blew Scott away. Hank had to hold back his laughter at Scott's face. The first person off the plane was Sobe followed by Beast with a wrapped but wounded Gentle John on a stretcher with Peter and Kitty assisting him.

Jubilee had already made sure that all the hot meals were in each and every room. Each room could accommodate at least two people. These rooms were larger then the West wing dorms that the school used. They were almost apartment sized. There were a few that had there own kitchens. Charles had these closed off for now.

Sobe was pleased to meet Charles Xavier and the rest of his group. He was most impressed with how well he and his people were removed from there hiding place without alerting any of the town nearby. He felt the X-men worked like a well-oiled machine.

Charles had to laugh at that as he led Sobe and those not ill to their rooms. Hank, Geri, Moira and Tess went to Medlab to care for those needing medical attention. Janet and her mother walked with Ororo to their rooms. Several other X-men were right down the hall and across it doing the same thing.

"I hope you and your mother will find this room alright?" Janet and her mother both looked at the huge spacious room and then each other. They both started laughing.

"Oh I think this room will be alright." Janet was beaming. Gigi was looking under one of the two large covered meal trays on the large dining table near the windows.

"Oh my." was all she got out. Ororo was laughing watching her stunned but pleased face. Janet walked with Ororo over to where her mother stood at the table inhaling the meal.

"What is this?" Janet looked amazed. Ororo smiled.  
"The professor is pretty much one of, if not the world's greatest telepath and he read your minds as to what you would love to eat." She lifted the other tray's cover.

"He had those meals prepared you most desired." Janet was dumbfounded.

On the tray that Gigi had uncovered was her favorite meal of fired fish, mac. and cheese, collard greens, sweet potatoes and corn bread. On Janet's there was fried chicken, sweet corn, green peas and rice with baking soda biscuits.

Ororo opened the mini fridge and pulled out a large pitcher of pink lemonade. Janet was stunned. The meals smelled the way her late grandma used to cook them before she passed five years earlier. It was mind boggling.

"How did he do all this?" Gigi asked. She clung to her shoulder bag.

Ororo had noted that on the flight she never allowed anyone near it. It was no doubt where she held her liquor. Jack Daniels was the odor that seeped off of her. Charles would work on that problem. Sobe said it was a bone of contention within their camp.

"Like I said Charles is a very powerful telepath and he has the world's most dedicated staff." Ororo smiled. She walked to the dressers and a large walk-in closet. Inside were clothes mostly X sweats, tees, jeans, sweaters along with sweat shirts in the closet.

"There are fresh clothes and underwear in the drawers and closets. We can buy what ever you need as long as you're here." She moved to the bath.

"Fresh towels and toiletries are in the bath. The TV remote is here and we have a desk there with desktop computer for your use as well. The mansion is secured Wi-Fi as are the grounds." Janet smiled. Then looked confused.

"There is no TV?" Ororo grinned and pressed the remote.

A large landscape painting over the huge fireplace rose up to reveal a huge flat screen TV. Janet noticed then that there were hidden speakers in the ceiling and the walls. She smiled at Ororo. Gigi grinned as she fled to the bathroom to wash up and eat. Saying a hasty goodnight to Ororo. Janet laughed.

"I have to apologize for my mom. I've never seen her this animated in years. I'm thinking that's a good thing." Ororo had to laugh as she bid them goodnight and left the room. Everyone needed some rest and sleep.


End file.
